Like all nonfiction projects, I started with research.
This was trickier than if I was writing about a World War II operation because the "Special Military Operation" is still going on. I had to rely on news outfits for most of my research, and I had to take anything directly from both the Ukrainians and the Russians with a grain of salt. Both sides are fighting not only on the battlefield, but in the world opinion. Ukraine has a sizable advantage here, as they are the ones defending their homeland. Zelensky has used his media savvy to keep the world on Ukraine's side, despite the heavy public pressure from the Russians.
I didn't use just American sources -- I used German, French, English some Polish, and other sources. Most of these are from their English-speaking news channels on YouTube. I also use Websites such as https://www.oryxspioenkop.com, which tracks confirmed Russian vehicle losses. The Institute for the Study of War (https://www.understandingwar.org/) is another valuable resource with daily briefing of the latest data from the war. Jomini of the West (@JominiW) has posted maps that show the flow of the earlier battles (Up to the beginning of September). Henry Schlottman (@HN_Schlottman) has also had some valuable points in his tweets.
For some things, I went to books. Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine and Orest Subtelny's Ukraine: A History. 4th Edition were a prime source for the background of the Russian-Ukraine relationship. I also used a number of books to detail the weapons used -- Small Arms, 1945-Present by Martin J. Dougherty, Modern Tanks and AFVs: 1991-Present by Russell Hart and Steven Hart, and several others were important to the different weapons.
So, what did I learn about this war during my writing of this book? This war wasn't one that blew up this century, but one that has roots deep in history. And this war is not going to be over quickly or amicably. I will be going over what I learned ion more detail in another blog post.
Later!
Craig
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If you want to take a closer look at the book, or to buy it, you can go here: https://www.amazon.com/Russia-Ukraine-War-Factbook-Craig-Reed/dp/B0BL5CRLLK/ref=sr_1_18?qid=1672081631&refinements=p_27%3ACraig+A.+Reed&s=books&sr=1-18&text=Craig+A.+Reed
or here:
For my other non-Battletech writing, all four of the Outcast Ops novels I co-authored with Rick Chesler are on Amazon and are part of the Kindle Direct program. In the US:
In addition, there is a physical version of Watchlist here: Outcast Ops: Watchlist Paperback
For those in the United Kingdom,
For anyone else, please check your country's Amazon Website (if there is one).
Also, check out the other Outcast ops novels:
In addition, Outcast Ops novels are on audiobooks! If you're member of Audible, you can listen to them free! The audio versions can be found here:
The audios for Game of Drones Games of Drones (Audible) and The Poseidon Initiative The Poseidon Initiative are also up on Audible, or though Amazon!
Please read or listen and leave a review!
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