From the sea to the cloud: naval warfare and domain integration in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has transformed traditional paradigms of naval warfare, highlighting the importance of integrating domains (physical, digital, and cognitive) and multi-mission capabilities in contemporary asymmetric conflicts. In the Black Sea theatre, the Ukrainian strategy based on the "mosquito fleet" - a concept included in its "New Naval Strategy until 2035" - has demonstrated the effectiveness of small, fast and well-equipped units against large, traditional platforms. This study analyzes how Ukraine, through unmanned systems (USVs and UAVs), maritime denial tactics, and domain integration, has countered the material superiority of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The sinking of the cruiser Moskva, the attacks on Sevastopol and the reconquest of Snake Island are evidence of a paradigm shift: control of the sea no longer depends exclusively on physical dominance, but on the synchronization of effects in all battle spaces. The analysis, framed in Julian Corbett's postulates on maritime power as part of the global strategy, demonstrates that technological and doctrinal innovation can reverse quantitative imbalances. Thus, the multi-mission approach and operational flexibility emerge as essential factors in the face of the hybrid threats of the 21st century. It concludes that the conflict in the Black Sea offers strategic lessons of global scope, underlining that contemporary maritime superiority requires distributed capabilities, technological resilience, multisectoral integration and deep doctrinal adaptation. The Ukrainian experience inaugurates an emerging model where the "cloud" and the "sea" converge to redefine naval power.

Keywords:
Integration; multi-domain; marine forces; war Ukraine; Black Sea