India, Oct. 3 -- Ukraine faces an unprecedented winter onslaught as Russia executes a comprehensive shift in military strategy, dramatically prioritising ballistic missiles and faster jet-powered drones that penetrate Ukrainian air defences with alarming regularity. The Kremlin has calculated that winter 2026-2027 represents an opportunity to break Ukrainian resistance through systematic destruction of energy infrastructure whilst Ukrainian air defence capacity, measured in Patriot interceptor missiles, remains critically depleted.

Russia's Ministry of Defence has posted threatening messages on Telegram featuring attack drones in flight, captioned "just like snow on your head" with accompanying text promising Ukraine would experience a "...