{"id":4833,"date":"2026-08-03T19:42:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4833"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:42:41","slug":"ukraine-uses-business-principles-to-maximize-russias-casualties-and-economic-costs-potentially-crushing-its-will-to-keep-fighting-rand-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4833","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine uses business principles to maximize Russia\u2019s casualties and economic costs, potentially crushing its will to keep fighting, RAND says\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a note last month, researchers Gian Gentile\u00a0and\u00a0Andrew Radin pointed out that Ukraine has gained the upper hand via attrition: wiping out more of an opponent\u2019s troops and weapons than you lose. <\/p>\n

Read more Yen rises amid speculation of more intervention after U.S. support<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s counterintuitive, given the much bigger size of Russia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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But Kyiv opted instead to simply kill more Russian soldiers and faster, according to Gentile and Radin. <\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine leaders use business principles to maximize both Russian casualties and economic costs,\u201d they wrote. <\/p>\n

For example, Ukraine has KPIs for the military\u2014just like corporations, which use them to track output from employees or subsidiaries.<\/p>\n

As laid out in former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov\u2019s war plan, Ukraine\u2019s KPIs call for killing 200 Russian troops for each square kilometer of territory seized and eliminating at least 50,000 each month.<\/p>\n

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The RAND researchers also said Fedorov had developed a \u201cmathematics of war initiative\u201d that collected data to improve the efficiency of Ukraine\u2019s attrition strategy.<\/p>\n

That includes Ukraine\u2019s \u201cePoints\u201d system, which is thought to be the first of its kind anywhere. Drone operators submit videos of their battlefield exploits to the government as entries in a competition that rewards points to high scorers.<\/p>\n

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Different targets are worth different amounts. One soldier is worth 12 points. The points can then be redeemed in an online government marketplace for more drones that are put to use in combat. <\/p>\n

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Ukraine is racking up plenty of points now, killing or wounding 30,000-40,000 Russian troops each month. The losses exceed the number of fresh recruits that Moscow can muster, and Russian authorities are coercing men into signing up.<\/p>\n

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RAND also credits Ukraine\u2019s defense sector for achieving the KPIs. That includes its new command-and-control systems, training, organization, and domestic drone industry.<\/p>\n

Read more The U.S. is using euros, not dollars, to prop up the yen, and it may backfire: \u2018This kind of twist\u2026undercuts the efficacy of U.S. participation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

In fact, the emergence of Ukraine\u2019s defense industrial base is itself an example of business success. Since Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022, thousands of companies have sprung up as fighting numerically superior forces requires constant innovation, rapid fielding, and mass production.<\/p>\n

Ukraine now cranks out millions of drones a year, prompting\u00a0retired Gen. David Petraeus, who previously served as CIA director, to call it the\u00a0\u201cmost important military industrial complex in the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to inflicting devastating loss on the battlefield, Ukrainian drones are now advanced enough to penetrate deep into Russian territory. <\/p>\n

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Recent months have seen oil refineries, weapons factories and e-commerce logistical hubs go up in flames, adding further strain on a Russian economy that\u2019s already cracking from high inflation, onerous borrowing costs, and soaring debt.<\/p>\n

Ordinary Russians far from the war must now suffer the war\u2019s consequences first hand as they wait in long lines as gas stations and find out that their online orders won\u2019t be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Aside from social media posts complaining about the war\u2019s fallout and some grumbling from oligarchs about the Kremlin seizing their assets, there are still no signs of any widespread popular unrest against Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut Ukraine could very well break Russia\u2019s will to continue fighting,\u201d RAND\u2019s Gentile and Radin wrote.<\/p>\n

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So even if Putin remains in place, he may at least be forced to the negotiating table to bring his war to an end. <\/p>\n

During World War I, four years of brutal attrition ended with the arrival of American troops, who helped stop Germany\u2019s spring offensive in 2018 and caused its army to collapse.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhether the Russian Army faces a similar fate will depend on Ukraine\u2019s maintenance of its effective strategy of attrition and continuing if not increasing its long-range strikes into Russia, and the continued support of its partner nations,\u201d RAND added.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018A hidden gem\u2019: Odyssey fans are shelling out up to $2,000 to buy 70mm IMAX tickets on eBay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukraine has KPIs for the military\u2014just like corporations, which use them to track output from employees or subsidiaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[320],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ukraine-invasion"],"yoast_head":"\nUkraine uses business principles to maximize Russia\u2019s casualties and economic costs, potentially crushing its will to keep fighting, RAND says\u00a0 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4833\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine uses business principles to maximize Russia\u2019s casualties and economic costs, potentially crushing its will to keep fighting, RAND says\u00a0 - 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