was typical of the new norm. For several hours after midnight, drones buzzed incessantly over Kyiv. It seemed they were coming from almost every direction, as searchlights raked the sky and skeins of orange tracer fire rose from air defence units stationed around the city. As each drone approached, the streets would echo with the deep rattle of heavy machine gun fire. From our hotel, a fire could be seen raging in the distance, as a fiery orange moon, nearly full, slowly faded as if unwilling to compete. Loud explosions would mark a successful interception, or a drone reaching its target. Sitting underneath all this drama, it is hard to keep a sense of perspective. The word "massive" is routinely used in official statements. But a glance at the statistics tells an unmistakable story: away from the front lines, Ukraine is in the midst of the most sustained bombardment since the early stages of Russia's full-scale invasion, with a sharp increase in the number of drones.

In the three months before August last year, Russia fired a total of 1,100, according to a report by Ukraine's general staff. A steep rise followed, with 818 drones recorded in August, 1,410 in September and more than 2,000 in October. But the numbers just keep going up. In May, for the first time, the number of drones exceeded 4,000. This month is likely to set a new record. Since the start of June, Russia has fired an average of 256 projectiles every 24 hours, according to figures compiled by the Ukrainian air force. The overwhelming majority of these are drones, including Shahed-type models and various decoys designed to confuse Ukraine's air defence systems. Russia first started using Iranian-supplied Shaheds - the word means "martyr" - in late 2022. (BBC)