The Russian attacks come after President Donald Trump likened the two sides to children on a playground who needed “to fight for a while.”

Russia will take years to replace nuclear-capable bomber planes that were hit in Ukrainian drone strikes last weekend, according to Western military aviation experts, straining a modernisation programme that is already delayed.

In a few early June days, underlying assumptions about Ukraine and Russia were shaken in three ways. On June 1st Ukraine launched one of the most daring raids in the modern history of warfare, releasing killer drones from trucks to scavenge on strategic bombers deep inside Russia,

Naval drones of the Magura V7 type, armed with AIM-9M surface-to-air missiles, were spotted in the Kerch Strait shortly after a Ukrainian sabotage action against the Crimean bridge.