I don’t think the Ukrainians have a network-centric battle management system. They are still using mostly Soviet equipment and that has not been adapted for western battle management systems yet. But if they have been indoctrinated to haul ass and bypass the effects could be about the same to a much more primitive military system.
A Ukrainian soldier commented yesterday that his battalion is reorganizing along NATO standards. He said he’s taking some R&R then training for a month in his new position. The Ukrainian regular army isn’t NATO spec but it would not surprise me if some smaller special forces units are getting pretty close.
That’s possible too. The training the Uke’s received in terms of tactical philosophy and decision-making could explain why it may look like it is network -centric in comparison to the rigid and inflexible Russian system.
The Ukrainians have a number of network-centric tools that are very effective. Some of them have been publicly disclosed like a distributed artillery request and management system.
There are also multiple applications for reporting Russian troop locations which are used by civilians to report the locations of Russians. If you look at local Telegram and Twitter feeds there are constant video reports of convoys, artillery locations, who is firing and when, etc. which are undoubtedly helpful to the Ukrainian military.
I have seen instances of the typical fog of war situations where small units have limited communication, and trouble with IFF. I think that the Russians are suffering much more because in a hasty retreat under fire it is very hard to maintain awareness of friendly vs enemy forces.
In the Lyman area there were multiple reports of Russian troops who were lost, confused, separated from their command, and either wandered into mined areas or walked up on hostile forces and suffered severe casualties as a result.