There appears to be a different mood around Ukraine at present, a sense of confidence that the momentum in the war with Russia is moving in its favor. Drones, technology, and financing – assured now by Europe – seem to have put Ukraine in the driving seat. Ukraine has the innovation advantage and European money – the €90 billion EU loan agreed in December and another €100 billion in EU pre-accession funds slated for after 2027 - has enabled Ukraine to take its innovation edge and at last get to scale in drone production.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Ukraine appears to have held the line on the front line in Donbas and elsewhere, turning the battlefield into a war of attrition and a drone killing field. But Ukraine’s long-range drone capability, augmented by the move to scale noted above, is now taking the war to Russia. We have seen that over the past few weeks, with high-profile attacks on St Petersburg and Moscow, both appearing as huge embarrassments to President Putin. It seems that Ukraine is trying to leverage its advantage to impose even higher military, economic, and political costs on Russia. The ultimate aim, I think, is to force Russia to negotiate on a more realistic agenda based on the maximalist demands presented at the Anchorage summit between President Trump and Putin. A number of key offensive actions by Ukraine should be noted/underlined: First, Ukraine’s continued deep-strike drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, with strikes across Russia on oil refineries and energy-related infrastructure, plus the military-industrial complex. The aim is to wear down Russia’s war machine just as it appears to be facing capacity constraints – labor shortages. The attacks on refineries aim to create shortages, bring the war home to the Russian population, and limit fuel supplies to the front lines.