Digital pull logistics in the Ukraine conflict: dynamic capabilities and institutional theories applied to coalition humanitarian operations

Purpose This study aims to examine how a digital pull-based coordination platform (Korovai) reshaped multinational humanitarian and security assistance logistics during the Ukraine conflict. Building on humanitarian logistics scholarship and drawing on dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) and institutional theory, the paper explains how digital infrastructures enable adaptive coordination and cross-sector legitimacy in high-velocity, multi-actor supply networks. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study based on semistructured interviews (n = 13), after-action reports and secondary sources was analyzed using thematic coding grounded in established collaboration constructs from humanitarian and supply chain literature. Findings Seven coordination enablers – trust, liaison roles, collaborative planning, information sharing, joint knowledge, process integration and enabling technology – emerged as central to performance. Korovai enhanced these mechanisms by embedding real-time demand signaling, transparent commitment tracking and secure asynchronous collaboration, supporting coalition-level sensing, seizing and reconfiguration consistent with DCT. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on a coalition-led coordination structure within the US European Command and partner institutions, limiting generalizability to decentralized disaster contexts. Future research should examine comparative cases and quantify performance effects across settings. Practical implications The findings suggest that digitally enabled pull architectures can improve transparency, reduce duplication and strengthen adaptive coordination in large-scale humanitarian and defense logistics networks. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study of Korovai as a donor-driven digital, pull-based platform operating in an active conflict. The paper extends humanitarian logistics theory into sustained, high-security environments and contributes to management theory by demonstrating how dynamic capabilities and institutional pressures jointly shape the design, adoption and legitimacy of digital coordination systems, contributing to emerging research on digital transformation in humanitarian and defense supply chains.