As midnight approached on Jan. 1, 2026, soldiers of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion spent New Year’s Eve inside an eastern Ukraine command post, eyes on video feeds and drones rather than holiday celebrations. With Russian forces making local advances and recent peace diplomacy stalled, frontline commanders described the immediate aim for 2026 as survival rather than decisive gains. An officer using the call sign Sam told reporters that planning beyond the next patrol was difficult as the conflict persisted into a new calendar year. The scene underscored how uncertainty about international support and battlefield momentum is shaping soldiers’ expectations at the front.
Key Takeaways
- On Jan. 1, 2026, reporters observed the Da Vinci Wolves battalion in eastern Ukraine maintaining drone surveillance and artillery readiness during New Year’s Eve operations.
- An officer identified by the call sign Sam said the unit’s goal for 2026 was to survive amid continued Russian advances and limited strategic respite.
- Journalists Cassandra Vinograd and Oleksandr Chubko reported from a frontline command post; the article timestamp is Jan. 1, 2026, 3:43 a.m. ET.
- Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press documented troops preparing artillery in November; the conflict remains active in Donetsk and other eastern regions.
- Diplomatic efforts to halt fighting have faltered recently, and shifts in U.S. policy during 2025 — including remarks by then-President-elect Donald J. Trump about ending the war quickly — added uncertainty about future aid.
- Frontline morale is mixed: units continue routine operations, but many soldiers do not expect the war to end in 2026 and prioritize short-term survival and force preservation.
Background
The full-scale invasion that began in February 2022 has produced years of attritional combat across Ukraine’s east and south, with control of territory shifting in local offensives and counteroffensives. Frontline units such as the Da Vinci Wolves have become fixtures in protracted sectors, operating from forward command posts where constant surveillance and artillery coordination are necessary. Over successive calendar years, both Kyiv and Moscow have sought tactical gains while international diplomacy has intermittently attempted to find ceasefire or negotiated settlements. Changes in foreign political leadership and public debate over military assistance have repeatedly altered Kyiv’s strategic calculus and endurance prospects.
Domestic pressures inside Ukraine — from sustaining civilian infrastructure to managing displaced populations — coexist with battlefield demands and dependence on allied support for weapons, munitions and intelligence. For frontline soldiers, these macro-level dynamics translate into immediate operational pressures: supply chains, artillery resupply, rotation schedules and casualty management determine whether a unit can hold ground or must trade space for time. International negotiations and rhetoric, especially from major partners, can change those operational assumptions quickly by affecting funding and the delivery of advanced systems such as drones and long-range fires.
Main Event
Reporters spent the New Year period inside a command post where multiple drones were airborne as officers monitored live feeds and coordinated strikes if targets were detected. Screens lining the command tent relayed imagery from forward observers and unmanned systems, reflecting how drones have become central to reconnaissance and targeting on both sides. Soldiers described a routine that blends constant vigilance with short bursts of high activity: patrols, counter-battery responses and rapid repositioning when sensors indicate enemy movement.
The officer known as Sam said that while some hopes for rapid change existed in earlier years, the immediate objective entering 2026 was basic survival of units and preservation of combat power. He emphasized that making plans beyond immediate rotations was “hard,” reflecting both operational uncertainty and concern about logistics and reinforcements. Troops noted that peace negotiations had stalled in recent rounds, and that battlefield tempo remained high despite intermittent lulls. That combination left many fighters skeptical that 2026 would bring a decisive end to the conflict.
The reporting also contextualized Washington-level developments from 2025: at the start of that year, then-President-elect Donald J. Trump publicly asserted he could end the war quickly and later challenged Ukrainian leadership while in the Oval Office, remarks that contributed to unease in Kyiv about future U.S. support. On the ground, soldiers said such high-level volatility matters because it affects delivery schedules for ammunition, air defenses and other materiel. Commanders must therefore plan for worst-case resourcing scenarios even as they try to seize tactical advantages.
Across the frontline, the practical effect has been a focus on force-saving measures: rotating depleted units, prioritizing counter-drone and counter-battery capabilities, and conserving precision munitions for targets of highest value. Those measures shape how commanders allocate scarce assets and how soldiers evaluate the coming year — not as one likely to end the war, but as another chapter in a protracted struggle.
Analysis & Implications
Drones and real-time ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) have shifted how commanders fight at the tactical and operational levels, enabling more precise fires but also creating new vulnerabilities when systems are disrupted. For Ukraine, maintaining a steady flow of unmanned aerial systems, sensors and munitions is crucial to offset numerical or positional advantages held by opposing forces. Any slowdown in allied deliveries can create cascading operational problems, forcing commanders to trade space to preserve unit integrity.
Diplomatic volatility—illustrated by high-profile remarks and threats to cut assistance—has immediate strategic consequences. Even if such statements do not translate into policy changes, they can affect partner confidence and parliamentary decisions in donor countries. For Kyiv, the prospect of reduced external support would compel a shift from offensive or stabilization operations toward defense-in-depth and attrition management, prolonging the conflict and increasing civilian hardship in contested areas.
Morale and recruitment are also affected by perceptions that the war will continue. When soldiers and potential recruits believe the conflict will be protracted, motivation and retention dynamics change: some units become hardened and experienced, while others face burnout and staffing shortfalls. Over the medium term, this unevenness can influence battlefield effectiveness and complicate planning for any future offensive that aims to retake territory.
Reactions & Quotes
Reporters recorded frontline voices that capture the immediate mindset of troops and the political backdrop they confront. Below are representative remarks placed in context.
“It’s hard to make any plans.”
Officer call sign Sam, Ukrainian battalion
This remark followed a description of screens, drones and artillery crews operating through the New Year period; Sam used it to summarize the unit’s short-term focus on survival and rotation rather than long-range campaigning.
“The goal for the coming year is simply to survive.”
Unnamed soldier, Da Vinci Wolves
The soldier’s comment came amid discussion of recent local Russian advances and strained logistical lines, underlining how many fighters measure success in force preservation rather than territorial gains at present.
“I can end the war in 24 hours.”
Donald J. Trump, then-President-elect (public statement, early 2025)
This widely reported claim from early 2025—and later Oval Office remarks—contributed to debate over future U.S. assistance and introduced additional strategic uncertainty for Kyiv.
Unconfirmed
- Whether concrete ceasefire proposals are currently on the table from either side remains unconfirmed; negotiators have reported limited progress in recent rounds.
- Exact unit casualty and equipment-loss figures for the Da Vinci Wolves during late 2025 are not corroborated in open-source reporting and remain unverified.
- The long-term impact of 2025 political statements in Washington on 2026 material deliveries is uncertain and depends on formal policy decisions and congressional appropriations.
Bottom Line
At the start of 2026, many Ukrainian frontline fighters described the year ahead not as the moment of final resolution but as another phase in a grinding war, with immediate priorities centered on maintaining force readiness and surviving ongoing operations. Tactical technologies such as drones help manage battlefield risks but increase dependence on steady supplies, training and secure communications.
Strategically, Kyiv’s options will be shaped by battlefield dynamics and by the willingness of partners to sustain support amid shifting political winds. For readers tracking the conflict, the practical measure to watch in 2026 will be sustainment: whether Ukraine can keep frontline units equipped and rotated, and whether diplomatic or political developments create openings for de-escalation or, conversely, prolonged attrition.