


Ukraine smashes Russia’s air force and a key bridge
The window for diplomacy is closing
RARELY HAS a week of war seemed so confusing. 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, reimagining old types of sabotage and exposing Russia’s vulnerabilities. Two days later Ukraine struck the bridge linking occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland. In between, there were peace talks in Istanbul that were not really talks: Russia doubled down with its ultimatums, but lines of communication were opened. On the war front, meanwhile, Russia continued to press Ukraine hard, while bleeding hard too, suffering perhaps its millionth casualty. In a telephone call to Donald Trump on June 4th, Vladimir Putin promised retaliation.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Drones and diplomacy”

The constitution that never was still haunts Europe 20 years on
The stumble of 2005 resulted in a better EU

Germany is building a big scary army
Its allies are ready. But are the Germans?

The hard-right’s champion blows up the Dutch government
Geert Wilders won an election but bails without getting much done
What Poland’s new president means for Europe
Karol Nawrocki is the liberals’ nightmare
Poland’s presidential election leaves the country exhausted
The liberal and conservative candidates offered very different visions
An astonishing raid deep inside Russia rewrites the rules of war
Ukraine’s high-risk strikes damage over 40 top-secret strategic bombers