As the world focuses on Iran and admires the overwhelming superiority of US military firepower, the Russian president has comparatively quietly – given that war is a noisy business – expanded his campaign in Ukraine, mounting attacks towards Sumy and Kharkiv, and has made the heaviest yet missile assault on civilian targets. There was a false hope that after the US president apparently secured a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and a proposed cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, that we would see him turn his mercurial dealmaking urges back towards Ukraine.

Sadly it looks as though nothing could be further from the truth, as the US announces a halt to weapons shipments to Ukraine. With around $66bn of military hardware already gifted to Ukraine, the US is by a distance the largest and most significant donor, but no more.