Families in Ukrainian cities are taking refuge from massive swarms of Russian drones, as Moscow steps up its airborne assault with attacks designed to undermine Ukrainian morale.

The attack used almost 500 drones and missiles, breaking a record set just days earlier, as Russia tries to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses, which shot down most of the weapons.

Ukraine’s fightback against Russia has totally revolutionised land combat for tactical distances of less than 10km through the saturation use of AI-enabled small, armed drones. These are typically quadcopters with 25cm rotor blades capable of carrying 2kg payloads for more than a dozen kilometres.