When I was last in the country, nine months ago, Ukraine appeared to be in real trouble: Its weapons pipeline was lagging and Russia was grinding forward on the front lines with w

The soldier took up arms a decade ago to defend her home region, Donetsk, where Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed forces since 2014. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the region has become synonymous with Ukraine’s fight for survival. Battlefield developments in Donetsk are considered a gauge of each side’s fortunes in the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian forces had captured almost 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles) of land in Ukraine in 2025 and that Moscow retained complete strategic initiative on the battlefield.

At the specific request of then-Vice President Joe Biden, the CIA buried an embarrassing intelligence report detailing the poor view the Ukrainian government took of his diplomatic efforts and

Ukraine has launched long-range drone and missile attacks on key Russian targets. Authorities said Monday that these included an ammunition plant, an oil terminal in Crimea and a weapons depot.

Russia’s advance into Ukraine slowed by almost half in September, according to the monitoring group DeepState, with Moscow capturing its smallest amount of territory since May.

A missile ship, a radar station and an oil refinery were among the Russian assets hit in Ukraine’s latest drone attacks, according to Kyiv. The oil facility struck overnight is one of Russia’s largest, as Kyiv continues its attacks on energy infrastructure, causing gasoline shortages across the country.

Russian missiles and attack drones struck nine regions in Ukraine and left tens of thousands of people without electricity as Russia ramps up its energy war on Ukraine ahead of the coldest and darkest days of the year.

Russian regions are dramatically increasing the amount of money they pay to new military recruits as analysts say “ideological” recruitment campaigns are no longer enough to motivate people to fight in Ukraine.