Ukrainian special operators described to Business Insider how they came under Russian fire driving buggies near the front lines.

Ukraine said Thursday its long-range drones had struck a major offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea this week, signalling an expansion of its target list in a mounting campaign to cut off Russian energy revenues funding its war.

Ukrainian sea drones on Wednesday hit and disabled a tanker involved in trading Russian oil as it sailed through Ukraine's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk,

The drones are still in limited supply and are not always the ideal interception method, Ukrainian soldiers and an official told Business Insider.

Both vessels are on a list of ships subject to sanctions imposed against Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine attacked Lukoil PJSC’s Filanovsky oil field in the Caspian Sea, according to a person familiar the matter, widening the scope of its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure just as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is under US pressure to agree to a peace deal largely on the Kremlin’s terms.

Ukrainian frontline troops are innovating new drone tactics to counter Russian forces, helping them strike more effectively and conserve resources in a constrained fight.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine told Business Insider that Kyiv has attacked three tankers since late November.

Recent incursions into NATO territory and manpower shortages faced by the Ukrainian armed forces have accelerated advances in drone technology. No longer just complementary to traditional warfare, they are a necessity on the frontline against Russia – and increasingly on Europe’s eastern flank.