As the Russia-Ukraine conflict reaches its 1,460th day on February 23, 2026, the battlefield has seen a sharp escalation in drone warfare and cross-border “terrorist” attacks targeting civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently condemned a “cynical” Russian explosive attack in Lviv that killed a 23-year-old policewoman and injured 25 others, an incident Kyiv claims was organized via remote recruitment on social media. In retaliation, Ukrainian forces have significantly ramped up strikes on Russian energy hubs, reportedly forcing nearly 40% of Russia’s oil refining capacity offline and causing massive power outages in border regions like Belgorod. On the front lines, the situation remains a brutal stalemate; while Russia has made marginal territorial gains in the Donbas, Ukrainian intelligence claims to have reclaimed over 300 square kilometers in the south using advanced drone tactics that disrupted Russian supply chains for months. Global attention is currently fixed on a series of difficult peace negotiations in Geneva and the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent block on trade tariffs, which has indirectly stabilized some economic aspects of the war. Despite these diplomatic efforts, military analysts warn of a large-scale Russian offensive looming in the spring, even as casualty estimates reach staggering heights, with some reports suggesting total combined losses have surpassed two million. As the war enters its fifth year, the focus for Kyiv remains on securing advanced air defense systems to protect its crumbling power grid from what has been described as the most devastating series of strikes since the invasion began.