The war in Ukraine and the changing security environment have further highlighted the need for rescue services to plan for conditions under heightened state of alert (RUHB) in Sweden. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) continuously conducts development work in the area. On March 1 2023, MSB is due to report back on a government assignment concerning dimensioning planning conditions for the organizing of municipal rescue services during heightened state of alert. The purpose of this study is to compile wartime experiences from the Ukrainian rescue services and translate them into possible lessons learned for the Swedish planning process. The empirical evidence that we have based this study on consists of various openly available sources, which have been supplemented by a number of in-depth interviews with respondents who have experience of working with rescue operations in a Ukraine plagued by war. Overall, it has been shown that Russian wartime strategies are largely unbothered by the judicial and ethical constraints of warfare by repeatedly targeting the civilian population and its infrastructure in clear violation of international law. This necessitates the development of a range of capabilities such as urban search and rescue of people trapped beneath rubble in demolished buildings, as well as practices related to the safe handling of mines and unexploded ordnance (OXA). Furthermore, the protracted nature of war is draining existing resources, which are also in demand by several actors at the same time. In short, the Ukrainian rescue service has for a long time been operating under strained conditions. Important lessons for Swedish rescue services include the need for planning based on the actual conditions of war and society at large, as well as planning centred on the competence need that wartime operations entail. Planning for both providing and receiving continuous international support is also important. During interviews, parameters such as mental preparation on the terms of the war and flexibility in the work have been particularly emphasized as important to consider in rescue service's wartime planning.