Dmytryk’s prescription: abandon the metric of kilometers gained in favor of indicators showing preservation of Ukrainian forces and disproportionate enemy losses. The state’s task “should be to cultivate ways of adapting to the situation, and not to support empty optimism.”

The key metric in a war of attrition, Dmytryk argues, is adaptation speed—the ability to change faster than the enemy. Ukraine has compressed its adaptation cycles from years to months. Russia relied on numerical superiority; instead, its operations choked. This is what winning looks like in attrition warfare—even when the map doesn’t show it.