2025-10-22 | Silicon Wafers 038 | What is Ukraine’s spymaster Kyrylo Budanov saying about deep strikes on Russia’s energy system; how those strikes are reshaping the battlefield and the very conduct of 21st century warfare. Unmanned capabilities are redefining the concept of attrition and vulnerability in modern warfare, and in this confrontation, Russia’s size is not necessarily an advantage. Russia has suffered greater losses to its oil supported war machine and economy from Ukraine's strikes than from Western sanctions. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, stated that "We have inflicted much greater direct damage on Russia than any economic levers of influence that have been introduced so far."Western hesitancy, inconsistency of policy, ongoing dependencies on Russian resources and refusal to close loopholes mean that the Russian treasury has earned billions of dollars in each year of their full-scale war, despite our awareness of the threat Russia poses to Ukraine, to Europe and to the international order that we created after the end of WW2. ----------Partner on this video: KYIV OF MINE Watch the trailer now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJUcE1rxY0'Kyiv of Mine' is a documentary series about Ukraine’s beautiful capital, Kyiv. The film production began in 2018, and much has changed since then. It is now 2025, and this story is far from over.https://www.youtube.com/@UCz6UbVKfqutH-N7WXnC5Ykg https://www.kyivofmine.com/#theprojectKyiv of Mine is fast paced, beautifully filmed, humorous, fun, insightful, heartbreaking, moving, hopeful. The very antithesis in fact of a doom-laden and worthy wartime documentary. This is a work that is extraordinarily uplifting. My friend Operator Starsky says the film is “Made with so much love. The film series will make you laugh and cry.” ----------SOURCES: New Voice of Ukraine — “Drone strikes damaged Russian oil industry more than Western sanctions—Budanov,” Oct. 16, 2025. https://english.nv.ua/nation/drone-strikes-more-effective-than-sanctions-budanov-50553210.htmlUkrinform — “Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries cause Russia more damage than sanctions—Budanov,” Oct. 16, 2025. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4048141-ukrainian-strikes-on-oil-refineries-cause-russia-more-damage-than-sanctions-budanov.htmlTSN — “Budanov: A deal without Ukraine is impossible,” Oct. 16, 2025. https://tsn.ua/en/politika/budanov-responds-whether-putin-can-strike-a-peace-deal-with-the-us-without-ukraine-2935895.html----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------