The Modern Russian Way of War

Generally speaking, the Russkies are careful to minimize their personnel losses.  So the high-octane drones they use are extremely helpful to them.

 ...Russian drone war is at its peak effectiveness—in afflicting heavy attrition on the Ukrainian forces—when it is able to force the Ukrainian forces to shift forces, moving them out of fortifications to plug emerging gaps at some other point. That forces the use of transport, the movement of supplies and troops, and that necessarily brings the Ukrainians out into the open and makes them more vulnerable. And so the Russian strategy is to keep probing, looking for breakthroughs in lightly defended areas that will force the Ukrainians to redeploy—exposing themselves to drone attacks. This explains the high casualty rates for the Ukrainians and also explains the Russian reluctance to “fully exploit” such breakthroughs. The Russians don’t move beyond effectively defensible positions because that would lead to higher casualties. Instead, they inflict what casualties fall to them, then look for another area in which to repeat the operation....

 We assume that Hegseth & Co are paying attention.