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Russian drone attacks are reshaping life in Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has settled into a grinding, no-end-in-sight war of attrition. Tens of thousands of drones now swarm the skies, threatening the lives of millions of Ukrainians near the frontline as well as western cities like Kyiv. On the latest episode of GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times, for a firsthand look at how Russia’s war has transformed life into “hell” for Ukrainian civilians who live in constant fear of drone attacks, long range missiles, and aerial bombs.
Russian drones are now capable of flying nearly 40 or 50 kilometers, putting entire cities near the border within striking distance. Urban warfare in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region has become slow, bloody and devastating for the Ukrainians who still live there. Even far from the trenches, in Kyiv and Lviv, citizens endure nightly aerial raid sirens and attacks, hiding in bomb shelters and metro stations to avoid injury from shrapnel and debris. Miller says that drone warfare means nowhere in Ukraine is safe. From the frontlines to the border of the EU, it’s a war zone.
“I go to bed every night anticipating there to be another air attack,” Miller says, “We don't sleep much and we get up in the morning and we look outside and we see the destruction. That might mean 20 people killed on one day. It can mean 40 people injured the next.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Putin's drone battle for Ukraine's skies
The battlefield in Ukraine has moved from the ground to the skies, with Russia ramping up drone production and launching bigger, more powerful aerial attacks across the border. As Moscow leans further into drone warfare, how much longer can Ukraine hold out? Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent at the Financial Times, joins Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World to discuss how drones have changed life on the front lines and in Ukraine’s cities.
The war looks very different from the one Vladimir Putin launched over three years ago, when tanks rolled across the border and soldiers advanced in heavy columns. Now, thousands of attack-style drones and smaller tactical and FPV drones swarm Ukraine’s skies, redefining how nations fight and how civilians live. Putin has reoriented Russia’s military and entire economy to become an industrial drone powerhouse, eroding Ukraine’s early advantage. Can Kyiv regain its edge? How long can Ukraine hold out and is a peace deal at all a possibility?
“There are now tens of thousands of drones in the air at any given time in eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine being used by both the Russian and Ukrainian armies,” Miller says, “That has changed everything.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube.Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Ukraine's high-tech war of attrition, with Christopher Miller
The war in Ukraine has entered a dangerous new phase, with Russia sending bigger, more powerful drone attacks across the border nearly every day. Gone are the tanks, columns of troops, and heavy artillery from the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Now, tens of thousands of drones swarm Ukraine’s skies at any given moment. How much longer can Ukraine hold out? Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent at the Financial Times, joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss the war’s evolution from a conventional land invasion into a high-tech war of attrition dominated by drones.
Artificial intelligence, drones, all types of unmanned vehicles are being used to wage war alongside traditional tanks and artillery. Russia's not advancing like it did in the first few months. Now it's inch by inch, meter by meter. Ukraine’s troops are stuck in positions for months at a time, some nearly a year. Civilians in Ukraine’s cities are under constant threat from drone attacks, sheltering in subways and bomb shelters every night. Despite immense resilience, Ukraine’s people are getting exhausted and the country is running out of manpower. Can Ukraine regain its drone advantage? Is a diplomatic ceasefire at all a possibility?
“A lot of people in the west like to say the Ukrainians are so brave, they can do anything,” Miller says, “Many of my friends and soldiers tell me, we're not superhuman. We die, we bleed. There are fewer of us than there were three and a half years ago.”
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're publishedRescue and search operations continue in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 28, 2025, following Russian strikes on the capital city overnight.
Hard Numbers: Russia strikes Kyiv’s residential areas, Shooting at Minneapolis school mass, Soccer giants dumped out of cup, US economy rolls on
19: A series of Russian strikes in residential areas of Kyiv last night left at least 19 people dead, with one of the bombs hitting a European Union office. These weren’t the only attacks on Ukraine overnight: Russian artillery and drones killed another five Ukrainian civilians in the southern and eastern parts of the country. Two weeks since the Alaska summit, peace looks further away than ever.
2: A shooter murdered two children – a six-year-old and a 15-year-old – and injured another 17 when they unloaded their rifle yesterday during a school mass in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 23-year-old perpetrator, who is now also dead, was a former student of the school. “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said after the horrific shooting.
13: Thirteen is unlucky for some: soccer giants Manchester United missed their 13th spot kick in last night’s penalty shootout against Grimsby Town, a team in the fourth tier of English football, to crash out of the League Cup last night. The financial disparity between the two clubs is enormous: United’s revenue last year was £620 million, while Grimsby’s was £5.72 million.
3.3%: The US economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.3% – up from an initial 3% estimate – led by a 5.7% jump in business investment. Consumer spending rose modestly, while rising exports added up to record gains.
Rescuers carry a body at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Russia pummels Kyiv, Deal or no deal, Budapest Pride Organizers Rebuff Orban
With world’s attention on Tehran, Russia launches huge attack on Kyiv
Russia last night carried out its deadliest attack yet on Kyiv this year, firing 440 drones and 32 missiles at the Ukrainian capital, knocking down a nine-story apartment building, killing 15 people, and injuring 156. With so much of the world’s attention fixed on the escalating Israel-Iran war, keep an eye on whether the fighting in Ukraine, where peace talks have gone nowhere, worsens significantly as well.
Deal or no deal, G7 edition
US President Donald Trump signed a trade deal with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Canada on Monday. The deal, first rolled out in May, lowers US tariffs on UK exports of cars and aerospace engines, in return for greater UK market access for US beef, ethanol, and industrial products. Other G7 members weren’t so lucky: Japan and the European Union both failed to strike a deal with the US, though Trump hinted that agreements with each could be in the works.
Rebuffing Orban, Budapest Set to Host Pride
Pride march is going full steam ahead in Hungary’s capital, despite Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party passing a law that empowers police to ban such ceremonies. Orban is a vociferous opponent of LGBTQ+ rights: He changed the country’s constitution such that it only recognizes two genders, and said Pride organizers “should not even bother” arranging a parade this year. The Pride event will take place on June 28 – we’ll be watching to see if Orban tries to preemptively halt it.President Joe Biden at an event with Kamala Harris on lowering drug costs for America.
HARD NUMBERS: Biden diagnosed with cancer, Russian drones hammer Ukraine, Israeli forces enter Gaza, Pope Leo gets political, UK and EU are friends again, Austria wins Eurovision
9: Former US President Joe Biden, 82, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone. Biden’s cancer has a “Gleason score” of 9 out of 10, which means it is highly aggressive, but since it requires hormones to grow, may respond to treatment that deprives the tumors of hormones. Both US President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris expressed their sorrow on social media and wished the former president a successful recovery as he and his family review treatment options.
273: Russia launched 273 drones in the Kyiv region of Ukraine Sunday, killing one woman and causing widespread damage in its biggest drone attack of the war. Ukraine accused Russia of also intending to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, but Moscow did not comment. The escalation comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s calls with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on Monday, to broker a ceasefire deal.
140: Palestinian health officials say Israeli air strikes killed over 140 people in Gaza Sunday, raising accusations of ethnic cleansing by the UN. Israel subsequently began a ground offensive in the territory after peace talks stalled in Qatar, with officials saying that the strikes were part of its plans to “achieve all of the war goals in Gaza” and establish “operational control” of parts of the territory.
200,000: An estimated 200,000 well-wishers, including a slew of world leaders, packed St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the first sermon of Pope Leo XIV - and the pontiff didn’t leave out the politics. Leo stated that his role is to serve without “yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat,” remarked on Ukraine being “martyred,” and deplored the people of Gaza being “reduced to starvation.”
12: The United Kingdom and the European Union have decided that there are plenty of fish in the sea for them to share: London granted EU boats access to UK waters for the next 12 years in return for fewer checks on British food exports to the 27-country bloc. The deal also includes a significant security pact. It’s a significant moment for UK-EU relations, just nine years after their infamous divorce.
160 million: Austria took top prize in the 69th Eurovision song contest Saturday, with classically trained countertenor JJ wowing an estimated 160 million viewers with his soaring pop-opera ballad, Wasted Love. Second place went to Yuval Raphael of Israel with a moving trilingual performance of New Day Will Rise, while Tommy Cash of Estonia came in third with his frothy fast-dancing confection, Espresso Macchiato.A Ukrainian rescue worker sits atop the rubble of a destroyed residential building during rescue operations, following a Russian missile strike on a residential apartment building block in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025.
Kyiv under fire, Trump blasts Putin on Truth Social
At least 12 people were killed and 90 others injured in a large-scale Russian assault on Kyiv early Thursday, prompting Donald Trump to post on Truth Social: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!”
This strike was among the most lethal of the conflict and marked the worst attack on the Ukrainian capital since July, when Russian missiles hit a children’s hospital. Reports suggest that Thursday’s assault involved missiles provided by North Korea.
The attack occurred just hours after Trump and his senior advisers urged Ukrainian officials to accept a US-backed peace proposal that would effectively legitimize Russian control over all occupied Ukrainian territory.
Despite pushing for a resolution, with his Truth Social post concluding “Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE,” the Trump administration has recently indicated they might pull out of peace negotiations if progress isn’t made soon. While this could just be a threat to force Ukraine to the negotiating table, a round of high-level peace talks originally planned for London on Wednesday was postponed, primarily due to the US opting not to attend.
Firefighters work at the site where an industrial area was hit by a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region on Nov. 13, 2024.
Russia fires on Kyiv
The attack also renewed fears that, with the approach of winter, Russia will again attack energy infrastructure targets in Ukraine to leave parts of the country without power or heat for extended periods. Ukraine’s state-owned national power company announced on Wednesday that new limits will be imposed on electrical supply for businesses in and around Kyiv and in the regions of Odesa, Dnipro, and Donetsk.