conflict
Russia Hammers Ukrainian Energy Grid In Retaliation For Long-Range Missile Use
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jaryn Crouson
Russia launched a massive drone attack targeting Ukrainian energy sources early Thursday morning in retaliation for the use of American-made long range missiles, according to NBC.
The attack left over 700,000 homes without power in Ukraine as winter sets in, according to NBC. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attack was a response to Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, which President Joe Biden authorized Nov. 17. The decision to allow the use of the missiles by Biden puzzled national security experts who cited enormous risks with little reward.
“Suffice it to say, this is a clear attempt to box in the incoming Trump administration into backing Ukraine without conditions or limits, and it’s a total affront to the democratic transition of power,” former CIA official Michael DiMino previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation in response to the move by Biden.
The strikes started late Wednesday night and lasted for nine hours, according to NBC. Officials told NBC this was the 11th attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak accused Russia of using “terror” tactics in targeting the energy grid, according to CBS Thursday.
The Russia-Ukraine war has raged on for more than two years, with casualty counts nearing a million total as of October, according to the New York Times. Both sides have recently been scrambling for ground as President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January, promising a swift end to the conflict.
Trump recently tapped retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg to head the peace efforts in the region. He previously served as the National Security Council’s chief of staff and as national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence.
On Nov. 7, Trump warned Putin not to escalate the conflict with Ukraine, reportedly reminding him of the sizable U.S. military presence in Europe, according to The Washington Post.
The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Artificial Intelligence
AI Drone ‘Swarms’ Unleashed On Ukraine Battlefields, Marking New Era Of Warfare
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Artificial intelligence-powered drones are making their first appearances on the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine war as warfare creeps closer to full automation.
In bombardments on Russian targets in the past year, Ukrainian drones acting in concert were able to independently determine where to strike without human input.
It’s the first battlefield use of AI “swarm” technology in a real-world environment, a senior Ukrainian official and Swarmer, the company who makes the software, told the Wall Street Journal in a Tuesday report. While drones have increasingly defined modern battlefields, swarms until now had been confined to testing rather than combat.
“You set the target and the drones do the rest,” Swarmer Chief Executive Serhii Kupriienko told the WSJ. “They work together, they adapt.”
So far, the Swarmer technology has been used hundreds of times to target Russia assets, but was first used a year ago to lay mines on the front, the Ukrainian official told the WSJ. The software has been tested with up to 25 drones at once, but is usually utilized with only three.
Kupriienko told the WSJ that he was preparing to test up to 100 drones at once with the linking software.
A common arrangement used on the battlefield includes one reconnaissance drone to scout out the target and two explosive drones delivering the payload on target, the official told the WSJ.
While Western nations such as the U.S., France and the United Kingdom are also pursuing drone swarm technology, they have not deployed swarm technology on the battlefield the way Ukraine has, according to the WSJ. Currently, autonomous weapons are not regulated by any international authority or binding agreement, but ethical concerns around the technology has led many to call for increased regulation of weapons like the Swarmer system.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Department of Defense has spent months blocking the Ukrainian military from using American and British-made missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eldridge Colby reportedly designed the procedure to review requests to carry out the long-range strikes with weapons that are either of U.S. origin or that require American intelligence or use components provided by the U.S., according to the WSJ. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly has the final say on whether Ukrainian forces can use the MGM-140 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) to hit targets in Russia.
The reported blocks on missile strikes coincides with a Trump administration effort to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment further on the matter.
BREAKING: President Vladimir Putin reacts to B-2 Flyover pic.twitter.com/1mzVn7DxlW
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 15, 2025
The Biden administration allowed Ukraine to carry out strikes with ATACMS in November, weeks after President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the New York Times reported. Trump criticized the move during a December interview with Time magazine.
“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy,” Trump said. “I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done.”
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Aug. 15 for a summit meeting during which Trump sought to secure a cease-fire in Russia’s war with Ukraine. As Trump greeted Putin, a B-2A Spirit stealth bomber and several fighters carried out a flyover of Elmendorf Air Force Base.
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and major European leaders on Aug. 18 to update them on the summit.
In July, Trump reached an agreement with NATO where members of the alliance would purchase weapons, including MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles, and donate them to Ukraine.
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