For a long time the rule was unspoken, but everyone respected it: Western weapons defend Ukraine, but they do not go deep into Russia. That rule no longer exists. And Moscow said so in a sentence aimed directly at London.

British drones have been used for the first time in strikes deep inside Russian territory, the „Sunday Times” revealed. Among them is the Nyan, a jet-powered strike drone produced by Cullen-Lentz, a company within the British defence giant BAE Systems. The paper states that drones from another British manufacturer were also used, its name withheld for security reasons.

The reply from Moscow was not diplomatic

The Russian embassy in London accused the United Kingdom of consciously opting for further escalation and of trying, through Kyiv, to inflict as much damage on Russia as possible.

„London's actions will inevitably have consequences for which it will have to answer”, the embassy said.

Then came the blunter warning: „The deeper it is involved in the conflict and the greater its support, the higher the price it will pay.”

London did not step back a single centimetre. A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defence said Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and will continue to supply it with equipment to defend against the Russian invasion.

The numbers behind the rhetoric

This is not a symbolic move. Ukraine has drastically increased the number of long-range strikes on Russian territory this year - the targets are refineries, military industry, naval bases and logistics hubs. According to data from ACLED, Ukraine carried out three times more long-range attacks in July than in January.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said that on the night of 14-15 August, 598 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 19 Russian regions, the Black and Azov Seas and Crimea. That is Moscow's claim and cannot be independently verified in full, but the order of magnitude alone says enough about the scale.

Why drones and not missiles

The answer is accounting, not military. The „Sunday Times” estimates that one such drone costs between 50,000 and 100,000 pounds, while replacing a single Storm Shadow missile can cost more than 750,000 pounds. Drones are produced quickly and launched in large swarms to overload Russian air defences.

This is a war in which the economics of a strike matter more than its precision. A hundred drones for the price of one missile - that is not technological progress, it is a new arithmetic of destruction.

When the target became an online shop

The most unusual target of the Ukrainian campaign is Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence claims that seven of the company's ten largest logistics centres have been knocked out. Estimates of destroyed goods run to around 4.9 billion euros, while total losses for the company and its sellers are estimated at roughly 800 billion roubles.

According to earlier reports, at least 20 Wildberries facilities have been hit since mid-July, with the attacks destroying more than 1.18 million square metres of warehouse space. Kyiv claims the company distributes goods through its network that may also have military applications - which Moscow and the company dispute.

Where this leads

So: British weapons are striking deep inside Russia, Moscow is openly threatening London with consequences, and London replies that it will not yield. Two nuclear powers exchanging messages across a third battlefield.

The Balkans know very well what it looks like when great powers test each other's limits on somebody else's territory. The question is not whether anyone is bluffing - the question is who will treat the first real answer as a threshold crossed.