Not all winters does the closing days of a year present the sound of missile-barrels as well as the murmur of a peace-negotiation. But with the year 2025 reaching its end, the Russia Ukraine war has provided just that contrast. It has been a week of intense combat, in-depth incursions on another side of the line, a diplomatic offensive such as the world has never experienced before that suggests but does not ensure a potential end game.
From the killing of a Russian general in Moscow, through the use of an unmanned ground vehicle to carry out that position of weeks and the largest air attacks in months, to the high-level discussions in Florida, the events of the since 22 December have been not only military intensive but also politically strained. For a keen international politics and defense technology watcher, this era provides a focused perspective of how modern war incorporates attrition, innovation, and negotiation.
1. Moscow Assassination, Strikes against the Russian Industry
On 22 December, the war made its way well into the Russian rear with an explosion in Moscow, killing Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, an officer connected with the planning of operations. Russian officials launched a terrorism probe, offering an overture towards Ukrainian involvement. Later that day, Ukrainian drones hit a Stavrolen petrochemical facility in Stavropol, Russia, starting a major blaze, while Russian drone attacks on trains elsewhere in Ukraine were unsuccessful in Zhytomyr. Such attacks underlined the fact that both parties will attack key industrial and logistical targets well beyond the line of attack.
2. Bloody Eastern Front Wars
The Ukrainian authorities characterized the combat situation in the east as extremely challenging, while the Russian troops attempted to cross the river of the Siverskyi Donets and put pressure on the Pokrovsk and Kupiansk directions. According to the estimates presented by Kyiv, there were more than 200 confrontations within a day. Notwithstanding such actions, reports of independent estimations note that the progress of Russia is slow and costly due to shortage in manpower and equipment.
3. Unmanned Ground Vehicles on the Rise
The use of unmanned ground vehicles by Ukraine has become one of the interesting aspects of the war. There was one report of one platform having repelled Russian attacks lasting 45 days in just one location. It intends to produce 15,000 UGV in 2025, compared to 2,000 in 2024, with the support of a local industry of 40 manufacturers creating over 200 variations. Combat-readied systems, such as the Droid TW 12.7, are modified with grenade launchers, and Russia is using armed Couriers and Omich robots. It increasingly integrates with aerial drones to increase intelligence into the battlefield and coordination of strikes.
4. Ukrainian Cyber Strikes against Russian Energy Infrastructure
Ukraine intensified its series of attacks on Russian oil and gas targets with British Storm Shadow missiles and its own domestically-made long-range drones. Strikes included attacks against the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Rostov, the Temryuk port in Krasnodar, and the Orenburg gas processing plant, about 1,400 km north of the border. The idea of Kyiv is to diminish the revenues of Moscow from oil, which is one of the key sources of money that it uses to finance its war.
5. Russia Air Strikes on Ukraine Cities
Russia responded with some of its largest air raids in months. Missiles and drones that fatally shot at Kyiv and other cities on 26-27 December consequently caused winter power outages. Strikes that followed used hundreds of drones, dozens of missiles, including Kinzhal hypersonic weapons, against power plants, including Kyiv TPP-5 and Bila Tserkva. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized these attacks as one possible Russian response to negotiations about peace and asked allies to provide more air defense systems.
6. Casualties in the Air and Naval of Russia
The Ukrainian security services increased sabotage and drone strikes against Russian combat helicopters and submarine. Notable had been strikes at Su-30 planes in Lipetsk, a MiG-31 and Su-27s in Belbek, and a Kilo-class submarine in Novorossiysk. This is done with the aim of reducing the capabilities of Russia to carry out missile and bomb attacks; the analysts have stated the gradual decimation of warplanes based in Crimea.
7. Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Temporary Ceasefire
The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency was restored to a rare local truce by technicians, who were able to repair broken power lines at the station. Since 2022, the plant-the largest in Europe-has gone off-site power a dozen times. Peace negotiations are stalling on its future, with Russians opposed to suggestions of a joint U.S.-Ukraine-Russia operation.
8. Florida Zelenskyy and Trump Conversation
On 28 December, President Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida to discuss a 20-point peace framework. The Ukraine security guarantees, projected to last 15 years, were said to have been unanimously accepted by Kyiv, while Zelenskyy pressed the case to 50 years. Trump admitted that there are still thorny issues; most of them are territorial control. He said he proposed that it was possible to strike a bargain to save more land.
9. Development of Territorial Disputes over Donbas
Moscow insists that any peace treaty should recognize its occupation of all of Donbas and any other occupied territory, while Kyiv is unwilling to cede more territory. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that Ukraine needs to withdraw the rest of Donbas under its control or risk losing additional lands. This disagreement makes territorial settlement one of the most challenging to resolve.
10. Amid Winter Strikes, Civilian Hardship
This period became for the civilians a time of renewed fear and suffering. Mass air attacks destroyed electric power plants and left hundreds of thousands without light and heating in the freezing conditions. Emergency officials were pulling round the clock to make the power on, and authorities were warning of additional waves to put a strain on the air defenses of Ukraine. Children were among the casualties, and this also contributed to the human cost of the war. This last week of 2025 has shown the irony of the war of Russia and Ukraine: on the one hand, unstopping fighting and technological advances; on the other hand, the greatest diplomatic activity in history.
While unmanned systems, deep strikes, and attritional battles are remodeling the military landscape, negotiations in Florida are making a sign of a prospective movement towards settlement. However, as long as the question of territory and possession of strategic resources, like the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is not settled, with 2026 at hand, a route to peace is not clear.
