ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 25, 2026

Key Takeaways from the ISW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on September 25 that US President Donald Trump has made a “final decision” to grant Ukraine licenses to produce unspecified types of Patriot air defense systems interceptor missiles. Russian forces are intensifying efforts to specifically target Ukrainian data centers and telecommunications infrastructure as part of their ongoing long-range strike campaign aimed at degrading Ukraine’s economy since 2022. This latest diversification of Russia’s strike campaign aims to disrupt Ukraine’s economy and the digital infrastructure that civilians and businesses rely on daily. Russian strikes against data centers and telecommunications infrastructure can cause temporary internet outages but are unlikely to lead to a complete internet shutdown. Russian strikes on data centers are one of the latest Russian attempts to disrupt the Ukrainian economy and follow a similarly targeted Russian strike campaigns against Ukraine’s port and railway infrastructure. Russian high-ranking military officials continue exaggerating the extent of Russian advances in northern Sumy Oblast as part of the Kremlin’s continuous cognitive warfare effort to portray Ukrainian defenses as collapsing and divert attention from Ukraine’s advances north of Lyman. Ukrainian forces struck Russian oil refineries and several military industrial enterprises across Russia on September 24 or overnight on September 24 to 25. Russian forces recently advanced southeast of Dobropillya. Russia forces launched 295 drones against Ukraine overnight. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. See the original here.