Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine August 18, 2025. / REUTERS/Stringer

ChatGPT provided the following information about the Ukraine-Russia war: Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said by February 2025, 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 390,000 wounded. 

Open-source investigations revealed that by early August 2025, 122,883 Russian servicemen and contractors had died but this number likely represents only 45–65 percent of the real figure—implying that the likely true death toll was between 189,000 and 273,000.

Humanity should be ashamed for this loss of precious life on both sides. We should be better than this.

What prompted Russia to launch the war on Ukraine is a matter of serious debate but the path forward for peace explained here should greatly benefit both Russia and Ukraine. I suggest that the areas claimed by Russia be declared as a neutral zone and be given the name Rusukraine. Both Russians and Ukrainians should be provided visa-free entry to Rusukraine. The neutrality of Rusukraine would be ensured by an equal number of Russian, Ukrainian, and EU personnel.

Russia must sign a no-aggression pact with Ukraine, and the pact should be backed by the European Union, the United States, and India. Simultaneously, the European Union and the United States should guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian Federation. 

The European Union should provide a security guarantee to Ukraine, and the United States should guarantee aircover (no American boots on the ground) to Ukraine. An international consortium must be convened to arrange funding for the rebuilding of Ukraine and Rusukraine.

All sanctions on Russia should be lifted as soon as these formalities are completed and normal trade between Russia and the rest of the world should commence.

The Russian Federation considers itself a superpower, but the proposal may well be of some use to it. 

Rebuilding Ukraine and Rusukraine

The following ideas should be useful to Ukraine and Rusukraine as they strive to rebuild both.

Armed with six thousand years of Indian wisdom, six hundred years of Western progress in science, and sixty years of scientific scrutiny, I have developed a scientific framework for external and internal excellence towards a better and more peaceful world. 

The framework highlights several lessons which could be useful to both Rusukraine and Ukraine: In the rebuilding undertaking, all processes and transactions must be designed well and operated in the best possible manner using appropriate six sigma like strategies developed at Motorola in the seventies and concerted efforts must be made to enhance the emotional excellence of both societies.

To elaborate, six sigma attempts to achieve minimum variance, the theoretical upper limit of achievable performance. According to American Society for Quality, some 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies and 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies in America have six sigma programs in place to a certain extent.

Six sigma is a necessary component for exemplary performance in all external activities, but it is not sufficient. I have discovered that in the absence of an adequate level of emotional excellence, the best of the best strategies, including six sigma cannot and do not deliver minimum variance. Boost emotional excellence and performance will excel.

To elaborate, human beings are endowed with two types of emotions- positive emotions and negative emotions. Positive emotions encompass love, kindness, empathy, and compassion while negative emotions include anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy, fear, sorrow, and the like. Negative emotions elevate stress levels; positive emotions do not.

Negative emotions or, equivalently, stress, are a primary root cause of shoddy performance in any endeavor and are responsible for ill-health and perhaps, untimely death. It is difficult to imagine how much stress the Ukrainian population must have endured in the past three years. 

America is the home of six sigma and India is the birthplace of emotional excellence. During the rebuilding process, the United States should provide professionals who are experts in DFSS (design for six sigma), six sigma and lean (so the waste in all forms is minimized) while India should provide the experts who have the wherewithal of the practices of emotional excellence. Funding for both should come from the consortium.

This proposal would appear to meet the needs of all parties. It is also a pathway to a more peaceful world.

 

The author is  Professor Emeritus and former Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Louisville. He is also president of Six Sigma and Advanced Controls based in Louisville, Kentucky.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)