Ukraine’s late-November drone offensive signaled a new phase in the war: a large-scale, long-range air campaign conducted entirely by unmanned systems against Russia’s energy grid, fuel production, and military infrastructure.

The protective shield built around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine can no longer do its job to confine radioactive waste as a result of a drone strike earlier this year, according to the IAEA.

UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted that the New Safe Confinement (NSC) was “severely damaged” during a February attack and has “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability.

Images captured from video posted on social media in August 2025 showing a Russian "Night Witch" drone dropping a munition on an island in the Dnipro River. Despite potential peace talks, Russia and Ukraine remain locked in their gruesome war of attrition.

Ukraine said its long-range drones had struck a major offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea, as it seeks to cut off the Russian energy revenues funding its war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian attacks ‘had no … military purpose whatsoever’.

Russian forces targeted the Pechenihy dam in Kharkiv, disrupting infrastructure, while the Ukrainian military had prepared contingency measures in advance.