Ukraine smashes Russia’s air force and a key bridge

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.