War in Ukraine

“People are afraid of the unknown,” says Mykhailo. His job is to turn civilians into soldiers in under two months. That training is now evolving—shifting toward more tech, simulators, and underground facilities to prepare recruits for drone warfare.

Russia is routinely hit by deep strikes; Ukraine is now capable of mass-launching drones, creating its own long-range missiles, and firing them at Russian military and oil infrastructure. Four years ago, this would have been unthinkable.

A seemingly harmless material used in cigarette filters has become an essential ingredient linking European industry to Russia’s war machine.

In just a few years, Ukraine’s drones have gone from improvisation to striking Russia’s oil refineries 1,500 kilometers away, destroying tens of billions of dollars’ worth of enemy and killing hundreds of thousands of invading troops. Some “housewives,” indeed.

For a week straight, Ukrainian drones have struck Russia’s Baltic oil ports thousands of kilometers from the front—disrupting up to 30% of its oil exports and increasing pressure on Moscow to end the war.