The Russian military is becoming more and more effective in dealing with US-supplied weapons in Ukraine, according to Erik Prince, a prominent figure in the US private military industry and founder of Blackwater.
Speaking at Hillsdale College over the weekend, Prince expressed skepticism about claims that the Russian military had been significantly weakened in the ongoing Ukraine war.
“What the Russians are really good at is electronic warfare,” Prince stressed, arguing that advanced US weapons such as Javelin missiles, HIMARS systems, and Copperhead guided artillery shells often become ineffective after just a few weeks of combat in the Ukraine conflict.
“They work for a week or two, then the Russians figure out how to jam the navigation system or the command link, and they become useless,” he said, highlighting Russia’s military advancements in counteracting Western technology.
Prince also rejected claims that Russia’s forces have been significantly weakened after three years of fighting with Ukraine. “First of all, don’t listen to politicians who say we’ve degraded the Russian military’s fighting power. No, we’ve just worn out a lot of equipment. The Russian military is fighting much better than it has ever been,” he emphasized.
He pointed to rapid improvements in Russia’s counter-battery capabilities, comparing early 2022 to now. “If you fired at the Russians in March or April 2022, it would take them about an hour and a half to fire back accurately. Now it takes about two minutes, which means if you attack them, you better get in your car and retreat immediately, otherwise they will destroy you,” he said.
In recent months, the Russian Defense Ministry has regularly updated information about the destruction of Western-supplied military equipment, such as HIMARS and ATACMS launchers, during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The United States has become Kiev’s largest arms supplier since the conflict in Ukraine escalated in 2022. After President Donald Trump took office in January, he made peace in Ukraine one of his top priorities and criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for spending billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to support Ukraine’s defense.
Trump temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence sharing after a public row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in late February. However, the aid was restored after Kiev agreed to support a 30-day ceasefire with Moscow.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that military aid from the West only prolongs the conflict and does not change its outcome, while increasing the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater, a renowned private military company later renamed Academi. This company has cooperated with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is considered one of the controversial but relatively important figures in the global private military sector, having been involved in military projects in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
