Day: September 29, 2025

• A Ukrainian drone boat was found acting as a carrier for fiber-optic drones, Russian reports say.
• It’s the first time these unjammable quadcopters have been reported in Ukraine’s naval warfare.
• Both sides are experimenting with new ways to bring such strike drones closer to their targets.

Ukrainian first-person-view drones that use fiber optic cables to circumvent jamming have been found at sea, according to Russian reports of an attack in the Krasnodar region.

The drones were seen in images and a video published this weekend by Russian news channels and military bloggers, which said the uncrewed platforms were obtained after Kyiv attacked the port cities of Tuapse and Novorossiysk on Friday.

Krasnodar officials said Ukrainian naval drones were involved in the raid, which Ukraine said targeted oil infrastructure on the Black Sea coast. At least two people from a major oil firm’s office were reported injured.

A video of the aftermath appears to show a disabled uncrewed surface vehicle — essentially a sea drone — moored near the shore. It’s unclear what happened to the drone, but several boxes with hinged lids can be seen attached to its hull.

Ukraine has used remotely operated roofs or lids to unleash drones before, particularly when it deployed dozens of FPV platforms from trucks deep inside Russia during June’s Operation Spiderweb.

A separate photo of one box’s interior shows a first-person-view, or FPV, quadcopter drone within. Other images showed quadcopters with attached canisters designed to hold fiber optic spools.

Business Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage, though the platforms they depict align with designs for Ukraine’s sea drones and fiber-optic drones.

The footage represents the first publicly known instance in which Ukraine has deployed fiber-optic drones at sea, in a continued sign of how the drone war is evolving low-cost tactics for both ground and naval combat.

Motherships of fiber-optic drones

The concept of deploying quadcopters by sea isn’t new. Kyiv’s forces were previously reported to have used naval drones as carriers for standard FPV drones as early as December.

Fiber-optic drones, however, are a special type of uncrewed platform mounted with a spool of extremely fine cables that can stretch for miles. The cables allow the drone to stay connected with a pilot or signal source despite the presence of electronic warfare, which jams radio frequencies that FPV drones typically rely on.

While more difficult to manufacture and deploy, fiber-optic drones grew popular after late 2024, as both Ukraine and Russia sought ways to bypass jamming devices that had flooded the battlefield.

Both sides have been experimenting with mobile carriers or “motherships” for fiber-optic drones because the cables can inhibit the platform’s range or capabilities. The further a drone is designed to fly, the longer its cable must be, adding to its weight. The extra load might cause the platform to fly slower, require a larger frame, or carry a smaller explosive payload.

Ukrainian and Russian engineers have thus tried alleviating those problems by inventing uncrewed ground vehicles that can be controlled via radio signal to approach a jammed area and then release fiber-optic drones.

Since fiber-optic drones are rarer, drone pilots generally reserve them for high-value targets or to attack jammers to free up airspace for standard FPV drones to follow up.

The Russian reports also coincide with Ukraine continuing to develop new sea-based drones instead of a conventional fleet. Kyiv has, over the last three years, heavily deployed uncrewed surface vessels designed to ram into enemy warships with explosives attached to their hulls.

The tactic is gaining traction elsewhere in the world, with NATO, the US, and Taiwan among the parties developing and testing their own small, cheap sea drones.

Russia has also been bringing fiber-optic drones to its naval operations. Earlier this month, Russian state media reported that the Black Sea Fleet was testing naval drones guided by heavy fiber-optic cables designed to sink as their reel unwinds.

• Starbucks sent laid-off staff details of what their severance package would look like on Sunday.
• The chain is closing about 1% of its stores across North America — more than 100 locations.
• Baristas would be entitled to 60 hours of pay, while shift supervisors would get 84 hours of pay.

Starbucks presented its laid-off baristas with a severance package less than a week after it announced sweeping layoffs and store closures.

On Thursday, the Seattle-based coffee giant said it would close about 1% of its stores across North America, which amounts to more than 100 locations. Its flagship Capitol Hill Roastery in Seattle was one of the outlets that will shutter.

In addition to the retail staff cuts caused by the store closures, the company announced that 900 non-retail employees would be laid off.

Starbucks sent documents of its severance package to laid-off retail employees on Sunday, which Business Insider has viewed.

According to a Starbucks document titled “Severance Summary,” laid-off baristas and shift supervisors would be entitled to 60 and 84 hours of pay, respectively.

Starbucks baristas earn about $15 to $22 an hour, depending on the store’s location in the US, per job listings on Starbucks’ careers website. Shift managers earn roughly between $20 and $29 hourly.

Café attendants — entry-level service staff in charge of keeping the cafés clean and organized — would be entitled to 30 hours of pay after being laid off, per the document.

States do not typically require companies to provide hourly workers with severance.

Laid-off retail staff can also claim a lump sum payment equal to three months’ worth of their health insurance premiums. Affected staff have healthcare coverage for three months from the end of October, which is in line with the Department of Labor’s COBRA Act.

The document said employees would get 45 days to decide whether to sign a release agreement in exchange for their severance pay.

In a separate document titled “Partner Separation FAQ — U.S. Retail Stores,” seen by Business Insider, Starbucks said that employees in nine states would be paid for their accrued vacation hours. Employees with granted but unused vacation hours will not be paid out for unused time.

In response to a request for comment, Starbucks directed Business Insider to CEO Brian Niccol’s open letter from Thursday.

“We’re working hard to offer transfers to nearby locations where possible and will move quickly to help partners understand what opportunities might be available to them,” Niccol wrote in the letter. “For those we can’t immediately place, we’re focused on partner care including comprehensive severance packages.”

In an SEC filing dated September 23, Starbucks said it expected to incur a $1 billion bill from its store closures. It said about $150 million of that cost would be linked to employee separation benefits.

The store closures are part of Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan, which aims to revitalize the chain after several quarters of declining sales.

The company said in the SEC filing that it had assessed its stores’ financial performance and customer experience and decided to close stores that had not fulfilled the criteria.

Starbucks’ stock price is down more than 14% in the past year.