Don't they teach Sun Tzu anymore to the military? You are never to assume your enemy is stupid.
1. Russia emptied their prisons at the start of this war and put the felons at the front lines. Everyone who died saved them money.
2. Russia has used all their old equipment which would have been obsolete otherwise. So most of the equipment was ready to expire.
3. Russia understands that with the new AI and robots they do not need nearly as many people in the country as they have. You may have heard about the Georgia guidestones and the goal of moving the Earth's population to 500 million. That is about a 90% or greater reduction in population. That is also why China has reduced their population from 1.2 billion to less than 400 million (latest estimate from the WHO as well as from other approaches like how people have phones, go to school, etc).
Yes they look ineffective, but for what they wanted they were very effective.
