Russia tests first unmanned reconnaissance strike system in Ukraine amid war: Report

For the first time since the war began earlier this year, the Russian military forces reportedly used an unmanned reconnaissance and strike system to target Ukraine. According to an anonymous source who spoke to Sputnik, the highly efficient system possesses the ability to fully destroy targets. 

"Russia has created a reconnaissance strike system that includes both reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles of various classes and ZALA Aero strike drones,” the source said. “The system was tested during the special military operation and showed high detection and destruction efficiency in tactical and operational-tactical depth of such typical targets as accumulations of manpower, armored vehicles, artillery systems and enemy air defense systems," they added. As per the unnamed source, the advanced system comprises a range of drones, including ZALA 421-16E, and Russian-made Izdeliye-51, Izdeliye-52, and KUB kamikaze.

Russia targets Ukraine's energy facilities

Russia, in recent days, has initiated a serious escalation in its war on Ukraine by targeting critical energy infrastructure that has left 10 million people without power, according to the Associated Press. On Friday, Ukraine’s power grid operator informed citizens that they might have to experience hours-long electricity outages as Russia zeroes in on energy facilities, thus causing interruptions that impact as much as 40% of Ukrainians, who are on the brink of facing a harsh winter. 

“You always need to prepare for the worst, we understand that the enemy wants to destroy our power system in general, to cause long outages," Ukrenergo's chief executive Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said during a state television telecast on Friday. “We need to prepare for possible long outages, but at the moment we are introducing schedules that are planned and will do everything to ensure that the outages are not very long,” he added.