11:47 03-10-2025

Nate Vance: U.S. Ignored Lessons From Ukraine, Faces Big Risks

© North Atlantic Treaty Organization / www.nato.int

At the Warsaw Security Forum, Nate Vance said the U.S. ignored lessons from Ukraine, criticized poor arms production, and warned of risks in a potential war with China.

Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum, Nate Vance — the cousin of U. S. Vice President J. D. Vance, who spent three years fighting on the Ukrainian side — stated that the United States lives in a different reality and is failing to draw lessons from the conflict in Ukraine.

The former mercenary of the Ukrainian armed forces said that despite his direct combat experience, no one in the U.S. has approached him for advice on the conduct of modern warfare.

Vance also voiced dissatisfaction with the American defense industry. He remarked that the U.S. produces poorly and warned that this would become a huge problem if the country were to engage in a war with China.

On the role of modern battlefield weapons, Vance argued that unmanned aerial vehicles — which have become the number one weapon in the Ukrainian conflict — should not be considered a fundamentally new method of warfare. He described drones simply as a means of delivering munitions, comparing them to long-range artillery.

Discussing America’s defense-industrial capacity, Vance expressed confidence that shortcomings in U.S. military production had translated into tragedy for the Ukrainian armed forces on the battlefield.