1/ For centuries, russia’s vast size has been its greatest strength - making it nearly unconquerable.

Now Ukraine is flipping that advantage into a weakness with long-range bombing raids against russian oil refineries.

Now Ukraine is turning russia’s geography against it:

🧵 2/ Since early in the war, Ukraine has targeted russian oil refineries.

But in recent months, the campaign has intensified.

By late August, strikes disrupted 17–20% of russia’s refining capacity - creating fuel shortages & record gas prices.

1/ Ukrainian soldiers are racing to transform the war with robotics.

Now in its fourth year, the grinding conflict with russia is driving a surge of battlefield innovation - with ground robots beginning to play a bigger role.

"It's a tech war," as one soldier told me.

🧵 2/ UGVs start simple: metal frames, wheels, basic controls. But before reaching the front, they’re stripped down and rebuilt.

Soldiers swap out outdated analog systems for digital links, Starlink, or LTE - making them more resistant to russian jamming.

1/ AI-powered drone swarms are now having their moment.

Ukraine is now pioneering software that lets drones communicate, adapt & strike together.

A reflection of the tech war.

The innovation cycle in Ukraine keeps speeding up.

🧵 2/ On a recent night, 3 Ukrainian drones flew to a russian position and decided among themselves when to strike.

This is the first known routine combat use of swarming tech.

1/ Ukraine holds a priceless trove of digital battlefield data -- millions of hours of drone footage & combat logs.

This data is vital for anyone seeking to build AI models for weapons systems.

Kyiv also sees it as a key card to secure Western support.

🧵 2/ “The data we have is priceless for any country,” says Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s 34-year-old Digital Minister.

While datasets for most civilian activities can be found commercially, the war between advanced armies has given Ukraine a set of combat data with no parallel.

1/ russia’s Rubicon drone force has become one of the most effective formations on the front.

It’s expanding fast and putting enormous pressure on Ukraine’s logistics.

🧵 2/ Ukrainian soldier Andrii (“Murphy”) from the 419th Battalion of Unmanned Systems told me his team barely escaped a Rubicon FPV drone strike.

Their pickup, drones, and ammo were destroyed. “Their goal is to target Ukrainian logistics,” he said.

1/ I was embedded with a Ukrainian robotics unit from the 92nd Assault Brigade on the Kharkiv front.

There, I saw how machines are becoming medics - taking on the deadly task of evacuating wounded soldiers under drone-filled skies.

A brief glimpse of the future 🧵 2/ On average, evacuating a wounded soldier from the frontline can take a week or longer.

Some wait a month. Many don’t survive.

Every rescue attempt risks more lives: one M113 driver was killed, and six others injured, while trying to save a single casualty in one case.

🧵1/ russian mobile networks have been greatly helped Kyiv's drone strikes.

Both sides rely on them for long-range strikes, reconnaissance, & navigation.

Ukraine has been using russian LTE to guide drones hundreds of kilometers deep into enemy territory. 2/ These drones need connectivity, and this is the process.

1. Ukrainian drones connect to Russian LTE

2. They transmit altitude, speed, & coordinates

3. Operators can map where russian air defenses are likely located

4. This made deep-strike missions far more effective.

🧵1/ Ukraine's long-range strikes are becoming more effective.

As a result, russia is being forced to ration fuel.

Ukraine’s escalating drone strikes have knocked out ~13% of russia’s refining capacity, creating shortages, rationing, & soaring prices across the country. 2/ John McCain once called russia “a gas station with nukes.”

Now that gas station is running dry.

🧵1/ Moscow is facing a fuel crisis.

Gas prices in Russia just hit record highs as Ukrainian drones escalate strikes on oil refineries -- knocking out ~13% of Russia’s refining capacity since early August.

Ukraine is increasingly taking the war to russia now. 2/ Long lines of cars and trucks are now seen at gas stations across Russia & occupied Ukraine.

The shortages come at the worst time -- peak summer travel & harvest season.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1958109271712735515

🧵1/ A Ukrainian startup is building long-range drones & missiles to take the fight deep into Russia.

“Fighting in the air is our only real asymmetric advantage on the battlefield at the moment." 2/ When a Ukrainian-made drone struck a russian ammo depot 1,000 km away last year, it wasn’t just a battlefield success.

It was proof that Ukraine’s domestic defense industry could do what the West wouldn’t: enable deep strikes into russia.

🧵1/ Ukraine’s expanding robot army can help address manpower shortages

Ukraine says it carried out a local offensive in early July using only robotic systems to seize a front line position in Kharkiv region. 2/ Another frontline unit has unveiled a remote controlled platform mounting a Soviet era anti aircraft launcher.

The goal is to threaten low flying aircraft and helicopters while keeping crews out of drone view and artillery range.

🧵 1/ Ukraine’s new drone chief, Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, has a bold goal: use drones to kill or wound 35,000 Russian soldiers every month -- matching the total number deployed in Ukraine.

This means rapidly expanding the killzone and strengthening Ukraine's drone wall. 2/ Brovdi, 49, is no typical general.

Once a grain trader and businessman, he’s become one of Ukraine’s most effective and unconventional commanders -- and one of the most feared by russia.

His unit, Birds of Magyar, is now legendary in Ukraine’s drone war.

🧵1/ My frontline report inside Ukraine's drone wall protecting Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Mad-max style caged vehicles fill the roads near the front.

The russian motorcycle suicide assaults are relentless.

Ukrainian drone pilots have no breaks hunting russian soldiers. 2/ The early morning begins with the crashing of artillery and the whistle of russian glide bombs raining down on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk Oblast, near the border with Dnipropetrovsk.

The russians storm throughout the day, attemping to push beyond Donetsk Oblast.

🧵1/ Combat medicine is being rewritten in Ukraine.

russia’s full-scale war isn’t just transforming the battlefield -- it’s forcing medics to adapt to drone warfare, mass trauma, and extensive evacuation delays of the wounded.

Here’s what NATO should be learning. 2/ Shrapnel, not bullets.

@rima_medUA: Blasts from drone-dropped munitions now cause the majority of injuries, not close-quarters fire.

“Medics out here are forced to learn on the fly because we have no other choice."

🧵1/ russia is launching thousands of drones at Ukraine each week.

Kyiv is responding not with more air defense missiles, but with drone vs. drone defense.

Here’s why Ukraine is racing to scale cheap interceptor drones 2/ russia has shifted tactics in recent months.

With his ground offensive stalled, he’s turning to mass drone attacks to break Ukrainian and Western morale.

One week in July alone: 1,800+ Russian drones were launched, including strikes on cities far from the front.

🧵1/ The Russo-Ukrainian war is a now tech race and AI drones are increasingly a part of that tech arms race.

However, AI drones are challenging to develop and for now, a hybrid approach is proving to be most successful. 2/ On June 1, Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, using FPV drones to strike russian strategic bombers.

The drones hit Engels airbase, causing up to $7B in damage and reportedly neutralizing 34% of russia’s bomber fleet.

🧵1/ russia is flooding Ukraine with Shahed drones - cheap, fast, and increasingly advanced.

But Ukraine is striking back with its own low-cost interceptors, some built for as little as $500.

Kyiv is showing us the future of air defense. 2/ Ukraine is under constant attack.

russia launches hundreds of drones at once, overwhelming traditional air defenses already strained by paused US support.

In this chaos, volunteer-built interceptor drones have become an important stopgap.

Garage led innovation.

🧵1/ Ukraine has hit the Kerch Bridge three times.

Now it may be preparing for a final, decisive strike - one that could sever russia’s physical connection to Crimea.

The bridge is both a symbol and a logistical route for the russian military. 2/ On June 1, Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, smuggling drones into Russia that damaged $7B worth of strategic bombers.

Days later, it hit the Kerch Bridge again - this time with underwater explosives equivalent to a metric ton of TNT.

🧵1/ Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine is pushing the fight far beyond Europe.

From Africa to the Middle East, Kyiv is challenging Moscow’s influence through covert operations, diplomacy and soft power. 2/ In April 2025, President Zelenskyy made a historic visit to South Africa, part of a broader diplomatic push to build new partnerships in Africa.

Since 2022, Ukraine has opened 8 new embassies on the continent.

🧵 1/ Russia is flooding Ukraine with Shahed drones - sometime hundreds of them daily.

Ukrainian air defense have been overwhelmed.

But a new homegrown solution is gaining ground: interceptor drones.

Here's how Ukraine is adapting. 2/ Ukraine has begun deploying modified FPV (first-person view) drones to shoot down Russian reconnaissance UAVs like Orlan and Zala.

And now even Shahed loitering munitions.

These FPV interceptors are fast, cheap, and increasingly effective.

🧵1/ russia's summer offensive is underway.

Putin is more confident than ever that russia can outlast Ukraine and the West.

As 700,000 russian troops push across multiple fronts, and with Trump always "two weeks" away from a decision, Putin thinks he can win. 2/ In late June, Putin repeated his old claim: "Russians and Ukrainians are one people… All of Ukraine is ours."

His strategy?

Continue to expand the war, overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses, and bet that the West gives up first.