The New Total War From Child Abduction to Cyber Attacks and Drones to Disinformation – Russia’s Conflict with Ukraine and the West
By Bob Seely
Russian warfare has become the global discussion point in recent years, sparked by the devastating scale of the fighting in Ukraine and the Kremlin’s threats of conflict, including nuclear conflict, with the West. The New Total War is the essential guide to how Russia fights against not only Ukraine but the West as well. It is for anyone who wants to understand how conflict in our world is evolving.
This book is the result of over a decade of research and dozens of interviews. It has been written by a former British soldier and journalist who has travelled extensively throughout Ukraine to get to the truth of Putin’s modus operandi. It tells the story of how, under President Putin, Russia has combined two forms of twentieth-century fighting into a single, new way of total war. It shows why the Kremlin has been in conflict with Kyiv since 2005 and explains why it has been so determined to suppress Ukrainian independence in the face of the bravery and defiance of the Ukrainian people.
Due to its extensive tradition of creative thinking about war, Russia’s new way of fighting is also a guide to how authoritarian states the world over will challenge the West for global supremacy using both military and non-military methods. This book is, therefore, a warning of the style of conflict that will be waged against the West to undermine our beliefs, our power and our influence.
Reviews
“Bob Seely, with his unique blend of experience as a journalist, soldier and MP, delivers a sharp, insightful look at the Kremlin’s approach to warfare. In the age of Russia’s shadow war against the West, this is a must-read.”
Andrei Soldatov, exiled Russian security services expert
“This is no dry academic tome – on page one you find Seely in a deadly position as he is hunted by a Russian drone in eastern Ukraine. He explains through stories of real people how the Russian state has reinvented warfare for the twenty-first century, not by abandoning past doctrines but by fusing them into something far more dangerous, flexible and continuous: a new form of total war. In this book, he puts together his ideas gained through decades of experience, giving us the opportunity to understand the strategic drivers of the horrors on the ground and the future horrors that await us if we do not wake up to what is happening. If you ever wondered what was really going on with Putin’s Russia and its relations with Europe, you need to read Seely’s book – he completely nails it.”
Adam Holloway, former soldier, foreign correspondent and Member of Parliament
“Bob Seely has combined fine scholarship with journalistic skill and political analysis to provide a superb account of Putin’s war in Ukraine. It will be the go-to book for anyone who wants to understand the war’s genesis, Putin’s motives, the new dimensions of conflict that the war has originated and the dangerous implications for democracies now pitted against Putin. Seely’s book is not written from an ivory tower as a military handbook. It is a first-hand account, sometimes composed at a brisk pace while some of the 900 bombs Putin drops on Ukraine each month are literally raining down around him. There are also vivid descriptions from the front line, and these moving and powerful stories help us understand the courage and resilient stoicism of Ukrainians and that for them this is an existential struggle – a war for survival.”
Lord Alton of Liverpool, chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights
“A must-read book for policy-makers, especially in the defence and foreign affairs spheres. This thoughtful, clear-eyed and outspoken work proves how Putin’s Russia employs multi-frontal warfare in a way that we are likely to see more of in the coming years and explains why the war in Ukraine will be seen as one of history’s paradigm-shifting conflicts. If this important book is heeded, Bob Seely’s time on the ground in Ukraine will have been put to phenomenally good use.”
Andrew Roberts, co-author of Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza
“This book combines in-depth research on the history and philosophy of warfare with vivid, personal reporting from the front line in Ukraine and sobering strategic perspectives on security and defence in Ukraine, Europe and the United Kingdom. By confronting the reader with the realities of war, The New Total War leaves no room for denial.”
Nataliya Zubar, head of the Maidan Monitoring Information Centre, Kharkiv, Ukraine
“Packed with insights personally drawn from the battlefields of Ukraine and ably weaving them together to demonstrate how Russia is blazing a trail in new ways of war, Seely’s book is an indispensable guide to conflict in the twenty-first century for the public and policy-makers alike.”
Professor Mark Galeotti, author of Forged in War: A Military History of Russia from its Beginnings to Today
“Piercing, unflinching and grounded in original Russian sources, this book lays bare the Kremlin’s doctrine of war as statecraft, revealing not just how Russia fights but how it thinks.”
Dr Jade McGlynn, post-doctoral fellow at King’s College London and author of Russia’s War and Memory Makers
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- Hardback, 384 pages
- ISBN: 9781785909481
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10 July 2025
Available to pre-order - £25.00
- eBook
- ISBN: 9781837360185
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10 July 2025
Available to pre-order - £19.99