What the IRR Field Can Learn From a Ukraine War incentive Program for Soldiers

An incentive program for Ukrainian soldiers to encourage the killing and capturing of Russian soldiers and destruction of war materials sheds light on the interesting interaction between motivation, inspiration, and friendly competition--in war.

The Rules Structure
The Ethical Questions

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“Wound a Russian soldier? Eight points. Kill one? That is good for 12. A Russian drone pilot is worth more: 15 points for wounding one, and 25 points for a kill. Capturing a Russian soldier alive with the help of a drone is the jackpot: 120 points.”

This is not a joke. According to this recent New York Times article by Kim Barker and Oleksandra Mykolyshynby, the Ukrainian war command has instituted a points program for soldiers with a highly measurable return on investment: the teams with the best results earn points enabling them to access more powerful but scarcer weapons, making them yet more effective.

This approach to the allocation of scarce resources might have application in civilian life and business as well and raise interesting questions about motivation.

The Rules Structure

According to the report, teams compete for points to acquire Ukrainian-made gear, including basic surveillance drones and larger drones carrying powerful explosives. They redeem points through typical redemption catalog called Brave1 Market. The store first went online in April of this year and was expanded in August.

As with any traditional incentive program, an online leaderboard lists the top 10 drone teams every month, although point totals are not made public.

Both commanders and soldiers say they don’t need more motivation to destroy Russian equipment and kill Russian soldiers. “We’re focused on destroying the enemy, on real objectives, on the mission,” Stun, the code name of the drone commander, says. “We go where we’re needed — not chasing after points.”

However, they say, the points program adds some friendly competition and fun to an otherwise tortuous job.

At its core, the article reports, the program is a resource-allocation mechanism. Ukraine faces shortages of strike and reconnaissance drones and related systems; by tying the distribution of those assets to verified combat outcomes, officials say the system steers hardware toward the most effective units.

“It’s a way to make sure resources follow results,” says Mykhailo Fedorov, the Minister of Digital Transformation, who helped devise the incentive programs. Government officials also argue the contest offers a morale boost for drone operators who spend long hours watching, recording and sometimes participating in lethal engagements.

According to the Times reporters:

Units submit video evidence of strikes to Kyiv, which are verified to attribute hits and award points.
An internal published table assigns point values to outcomes: wounding a soldier, killing one, damaging or destroying equipment, and higher-tier actions such as capturing a combatant alive.
Leaders have adjusted point values over time in response to changing tactics and battlefield realities. For example, the point value assigned to the death of an enemy infantryman rose from 2 points at launch to 6 in October 2024 and was doubled again in May 2025.
An internal leaderboard highlights top teams monthly, though detailed totals are not displayed.

Metrics include:

Procurement activity: Officials report tens of thousands of systems ordered via points and nearly $100 million worth of equipment procured, indicating the program is a major channel for materiel distribution toward more effective teams.
High-output units: Some brigades and regiments report thousands of verified strikes and point tallies large enough to purchase hundreds of advanced drones — an internal indicator that the system rapidly directs resources where used most effectively.
Behavioral change: The emergence of drone squads to access points and increased competition in strike coordination suggest the program has shifted battlefield behavior to more effective actions.

The Ethical Questions

According to reporters, some of the questions raised include:

Perverse incentives: Possibility that units prioritize point-rich targets or contest hits instead of synchronizing operations.
Moral and legal concerns: Turning lethal engagements into scored events could further dehumanize the war.
Verification and transparency: Without public accounting or independent verification, the system’s metrics and claimed impacts remain internal and hard to evaluate.

“We’re focused on destroying the enemy, on real objectives, on the mission,” says the drone commander known as Stun quoted in the article. “The realization that successful combat operations also bring additional equipment — that inspires confidence that we will have the means to keep fighting,” adds Yuriy Fedorenko, commander of the Achilles regiment.

On the other hand, the reporters write that framing of lethal outcomes as “points” unsettles others. Operators use gaming call signs and also recount heated arguments when multiple teams try to claim the same strike. “It’s a brutal game — human lives turned into points,” Stun is reported saying. “Outside observers and ethicists have long warned that systems that commodify kills risk desensitizing participants and creating perverse incentives — chasing point-rich targets rather than operationally critical objectives,” the writers suggest.

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