Six hundred drones headed towards the Moscow region during a single night. Two hundred and one were shot down on the approach to the city, according to the mayor of the Russian capital. The Russian defence ministry goes further and says it downed 822 drones in total. If both numbers are accurate, then Ukraine sent an airport's worth into the sky - not as a symbolic gesture, but as systematic work.

„Between last night and 6.30 in the morning, 600 drones flew towards the Moscow region, of which 201 were destroyed in the Moscow region. That was the largest air attack on the Russian capital in the past two years,” the mayor said, with emergency services working at the impact sites.

The outcome did not stop at sirens. A fire broke out at a distribution warehouse near Moscow and at least six people are dead. Among the targets hit, according to social media posts, was one of the largest warehouses of the online retailer Wildberries - a company that, besides parcels for citizens, also supplies the Russian army with equipment. It is logistics, not a barracks. And that is exactly why it is a target.

The British trail now visible

The most interesting part of this story is not the number of drones, but whose signature is on them. The Times reported that Ukraine has spent the last six months using British drones for deep strikes inside Russia. Among them is BAE Systems' jet-powered kamikaze drone Nyan, tested by Britain's Royal Navy, plus another model whose manufacturer has not been disclosed for security reasons.

„The bulk of deep-strike missions are carried out with Ukrainian drones, but the Armed Forces have had significant success with British drones too,” a senior Ukrainian military source told the British paper. The targets hit with British equipment, the report says, included oil refineries near Moscow, in Yaroslavl and in Volgograd. The same drone, according to the report, was also used against Belgorod.

This is where the story stops being only about Ukraine and Russia. When weapons manufactured in a NATO member state strike targets deep inside Russian territory, the question of „who is at war with whom” gets a far less comfortable answer than London would like to admit. The Times itself notes that Russia could respond by increasing hybrid pressure on the United Kingdom. The source adds that Moscow has already targeted Britain with cyber attacks and espionage.

The Balkans know this scene by heart: first the equipment is delivered, then it is explained that this is not participation, and in the end someone pays the difference between the two. The question nobody asks out loud is who draws the line between help and involvement - and what happens when the side on the receiving end of that equipment decides the line does not exist.