Other things that lead to increased deaths: the Russian military intentionally bombing civilians.

I usually oppose “whataboutism” but I can’t bring myself to do it here. This is a war where the nation of Russia has decided to murder Ukrainians. Means to interfere with Russia’s blood-soaked campaign must be viewed not in isolation, but in the context of what they are attempting to stop.

To be clear, I am not making a general purpose “the end justifies the means” argument. I am making a narrow and specific “the circumstances justify extreme behavior with severe externalities” argument.