Welcome back to The Restricted Handling Podcast — the no-BS geopolitical briefing that blends national security depth with just enough swagger to keep it from feeling like a Pentagon PowerPoint. In today’s episode, “RH 11.10.25 | Russia: Blackouts, Bombs & Bluster,” we dive into a wild 24-hour stretch that feels like a mash-up of Cold War II and Black Mirror. 

We’re talking about Russia’s largest assault on Ukraine’s power grid since the war began — hundreds of drones and missiles slamming into energy infrastructure and even the substations that feed nuclear plants. Ukraine’s accusing Moscow of deliberately endangering nuclear safety across Europe, and honestly, they’ve got a point. Entire cities are dark, backup generators are straining, and temperatures are dropping. It’s chaos — engineered chaos — meant to freeze morale as winter closes in. 

Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov finally crawls out from the Kremlin basement to announce he’s ready to talk to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio — but only if Kyiv surrenders and the West accepts Russia’s territorial conquests. Diplomatic olive branch? More like a Molotov cocktail in a tuxedo. On top of that, Moscow’s hinting at the possibility of resuming nuclear tests for the first time in decades, brushing the dust off its Soviet-era playbook like it’s a vintage mixtape. 

But Ukraine isn’t just taking the hits — it’s dishing them out. We break down how Ukrainian drones are torching power facilities inside Russia, hitting the Voronezh and Taganrog regions and cutting power to tens of thousands of Russians. Think of it as the energy war going full-circle: Moscow attacks the Ukrainian grid, Kyiv flips the switch on Russian infrastructure. 

Beyond the battlefield, we get into Europe’s rising hybrid threat storm. UK and German troops deploy to Belgium after mysterious drone incursions near airports and military bases — part of what analysts call Russia’s “Phase Zero” ops: low-key provocations meant to rattle NATO without crossing the Article 5 line. And in the shadows, new spy drama unfolds — a Russian opposition activist in Poland confesses to being an FSB agent, while ex-Orthodox Church power broker Metropolitan Hilarion denies his own espionage allegations. The Cold War’s back, but now it’s got better Wi-Fi and worse ethics. 

We’ll also touch on U.S. weapons shipments stuck in bureaucratic limbo, global oil-sanction loopholes, and Zelenskyy’s candle-lit diplomacy — literally — as Kyiv fights through blackouts to keep the lights on for democracy. 

This is your front-row seat to geopolitics with personality — high-stakes, high-energy, and unapologetically real.