Why Ukraine and Russia still need infantry (and us, too)

Logan Nye

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Ukrainian troops train during an exercise in 2018. (Ministry of Defence of Ukraine) Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, CC BY-SA 2.0

There’s a running dialogue just under the surface of the Russo-Ukrainian War. In a war where each side has achieved a stunning amount with drones, why are there still infantry soldiers being forced into a meat grinder on the frontlines?

What are the Russians/What are the Ukrainians? Stupid?

No. Neither side is fully stupid. Even though Russia seemed to be trying to prove itself that way for most of 2022. Each side has figured out how to do amazing things with their drones. And the Russo-Ukrainian War will almost certainly go down in the annals of history as the moment when drone warfare fundamentally changed. However, there are still some things that drones cannot do, but infantry can, just as there are things drones can’t do that artillery or manned aircraft can.

Infantry’s long history as essential workers

So, what does an infantryman do on a battlefield where the drones fly so thick that fiber-optic cables are as dense as the grass that grows beneath them?

Well, the same thing they do everywhere else, they just do it much, much more carefully.

Infantry’s primary role is to close with and destroy the enemy. That’s it, in a nutshell. How that has worked has changed a lot over the last few thousand years. And yes, infantry as a concept, though not always named as such, is older than Greece.