Russia’s war on Ukraine has become a grinding tally of raw numbers, and Kyiv is executing its strategy with the ruthlessness of a corporate efficiency expert, according to the RAND think tank.
In a note last month, researchers Gian Gentile and Andrew Radin pointed out that Ukraine has gained the upper hand via attrition: wiping out more of an opponent’s troops and weapons than you lose.
That’s counterintuitive, given the much bigger size of Russia’s population and military. Rather than trying to slug it out toe to toe, some analysts earlier in the war, which is now in its fifth year, suggested Ukraine ought to seize Russian territory to force Moscow into talks.
But Kyiv opted instead to simply kill more Russian soldiers and faster, according to Gentile and Radin.
“Ukraine leaders use business principles to maximize both Russian casualties and economic costs,” they wrote.
