Stunning videos of a Ukrainian artillery, drone and mine attack on a column of Russian tanks have emerged from the front lines near Bakhmut, with one retired US general praising Kyiv‘s troops for orchestrating what he called a ‘textbook’ strike. 

The attack in the countryside close to the town of Klishchiivka in Donetsk began when the Russian armour trundled past the cover of a tree line and into an open field.

Suddenly, explosions rang out when one tank appeared to run over a mine – a signal that triggered a hail of artillery fire and drone strikes on the unsuspecting column. 

Incredible drone footage shared by Ukraine war monitors and open-source intelligence accounts showed the utter chaos and confusion of the Russian tank operators as shells rained down on the field, scoring direct hits on several vehicles. 

One tank veered off to the right and broke from the column, perhaps looking to escape, when its main gun appeared to blast one of the other stricken Russian tanks mere feet away – a testament to the panic and likely inexperience of the unit. 

Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of United States Army Europe, said the Russian column presented a perfect target and made ‘opening-day mistakes’. 

‘Impressive by UAF. Textbook integration of fires, drones, and apparently mines. Russian tanks in column in combat with minimal separation… no evidence of experienced Sergeants in this Russian unit,’ he said. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials released a video today showing how their forces had destroyed an advanced Russian S-400 Triumf air-defence system loaded with missiles.

The video shows a giant explosion in Olenevka, a town on Cape Tarkhankut in Crimea, following the strike, which was confirmed by HUR, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency.

‘As a result of the explosion, the installation itself, the missiles and personnel installed on it were completely destroyed,’ said Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko.

Russian sources suspect the blast was caused by a Storm Shadow missile supplied by Britain and France to Ukraine.

Russian Telegram channel Military Informant said: ‘The enemy publishes footage of a strike on an S-400 air defence system in the Olenevka area in Crimea this morning.

‘What was hit is currently unknown, however, presumably, it was a Storm Shadow cruise missile.

‘In addition, a Ukrainian reconnaissance UAV hung unhindered directly above the positions of the air-defence system, exercising objective control.

‘Such incidents raise legitimate questions about the quality of air-defence coverage in one of the most ”missile-hazardous” regions of Russia.’

Some reports indicated other Russian missile systems were also taken out, including Bastion and Pantsir-S1 systems.

‘The Bastion complex is one of the carriers of the Onyx missiles used by the Russians to hit Ukraine,’ adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petr Andryushchenko said.

‘The Russian S-400 Triumf complex was destroyed in Crimea.’

It comes as Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks early on Wednesday, officials said, with Kyiv apparently targeting Moscow again and the Kremlin’s forces launching another bombardment of Ukrainian grain storage depots in what have recently become signature tactics in the 18-month war.

A three-hour night-time Russian drone attack in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight on Tuesday caused a blaze at grain facilities, Odesa Regional Military Administration head Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian air-defence systems downed nine Shahed drones, Kiper said, but added: ‘Unfortunately, there are hits on production and trans-shipment complexes.’

Russia zeroed in on Odesa last month, crippling significant parts of the port city’s grain facilities days after President Vladimir Putin broke off Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative – a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.

Russian officials, meanwhile, claimed to have downed Ukrainian drones in Moscow and the surrounding region early Wednesday, the defence ministry and the mayor said. 

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said one drone smashed into a building under construction in Moscow City, a prestigious business complex hit by drones twice before. Several windows were broken in two buildings nearby and emergency services responded to the scene.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said the drone had been electronically jammed. It blamed the attack on Ukraine and said two other drones were shot down by air defence systems in the Mozhaisk and Khimki areas of the Moscow region. 

Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied whether Ukraine was behind the drone attacks.

Moscow’s airports briefly closed but have now reopened, according to Russian state media.

After months of resisting Russian advances on Ukrainian soil, earlier this year Kyiv’s troops began striking back on targets across the border, targeting Moscow’s military assets behind the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine and launching drones against Moscow.

Kyiv is also trying to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin along multiple fronts, pursuing a counteroffensive at various points along the 900-mile front line, as well as diplomatically by obtaining pledges of more weaponry from its Western allies, including F-16 warplanes.

Meanwhile, three people were killed in the Belgorod region of Russia on the Ukrainian border after repeated shelling of a sanatorium, according to Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Gladkov said the sanatorium in the village of Lavy, about 25 miles from the border, was shelled and that ‘the enemy dropped two grenades from a drone while people were on the street’.

The Belgorod region has witnessed sporadic fighting and shelling during the war, including a border incursion last May that prompted the Kremlin to introduce tighter security.

It does not get any more emphatic than this. There can have been few more one-sided games in the long history of Test cricket. England have simply destroyed Ireland.

Such has been England’s brutal superiority at Lord’s that the benefits of this whole futile exercise for the much more important business to come can only be negligible.

Certainly, this one-off game will bear no relation to what faces England when they come up against an Australia side with much more thorough preparation for the Ashes in the form of next week’s World Test Championship final against India under their belts.

But England can hardly be blamed for that, nor for the pitifully weak state of an Ireland team who left their best bowler in Josh Little out of this Test and instead fielded an attack barely up to county standard.

In the absence of meaningful opposition England did what this England team have done for the last year, blitzed the opposition with both ball and bat over the first two days to leave themselves in sight today of their 11th win in 13 matches under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. And by some distance the easiest and most predictable of them.

Yet instead of dwelling on Ireland’s inadequacy let’s celebrate the fastest double hundred by anyone in a Test in England from Ollie Pope. 

Plus an equally swashbuckling century from Ben Duckett in his first Test innings on home soil.

Then there was the single just before tea that took Joe Root to 11,000 runs in Test cricket, only the second Englishman to do so, with just Sir Alastair Cook ahead of him.

And, finally, before Ireland closed on 97 for three, a mere 255 behind, there were two wickets in his first over in the Ireland second innings and three in all, his first victims in Test cricket, for a bowler in Josh Tongue making a huge impression on debut here.

Nothing summed up this mauling more than the rare feat of both Pope and Duckett scoring more than a hundred runs in a single session.

Duckett cruised along with ease to that landmark in the morning and the new vice-captain did the same in the afternoon, as Ireland wilted in the face of an assault they could do absolutely nothing to withstand.

Only when Ireland managed to get an out of shape ball changed, with England on the small matter of 353 for one off just 59 overs, did they manage to even get past England’s broad bats, the replacement starting to swing and Duckett falling for 182 off 178 balls.

This was the best contribution yet for an opener in Duckett for so long appeared lost to the highest level because of his off-field indiscipline but who has matured and flourished like few others under the uber-positive Stokes and McCullum regime.

When Duckett was bowled by Graham Hume Pope simply carried on, racing along to his fourth Test century and his third since he rang Stokes ahead of last summer and asked to bat in the problem No3 position that has now brought the very best out of him.

There was the possibility of an England declaration with Pope unbeaten on 197 at tea but Stokes rightly let him reach the magical milestone of a Test double century at Lord’s, Pope advancing to smash Andy McBrine for six to get there before falling off the next ball.

That was the key for Stokes to withdraw in search of the two-day finish he quietly targeted ahead of this Test, with England on a monumental 524 for four off just 82.4 overs, racing along at more than six an over and never really seeming to get out of second gear.

The biggest minus for England is that Stokes and Jonny Bairstow did not get a bat and Harry Brook faced just seven balls, meaning all three will go into the Ashes with little red-ball practice behind them. 

But there was then another big plus in the form of Tongue.

What another excellent decision the selection of Tongue here ahead of Chris Woakes has been and what another brilliant piece of captaincy there was from Stokes when he brought the debutant on for just the seventh over of the Ireland second innings.

Clearly the captain wanted Tongue to feel he belonged and he did so by trapping Peter Moor plumb with his first ball and then forcing Andy Balbirnie to edge a cut through to a tumbling Bairstow, again keeping well on his return to the side.

Tongue was the bowler when James McCollum tried to take evasive action and managed to badly twist his ankle when falling in a heap, forcing him to retire hurt.

But it was Tongue, putting himself very much in the Ashes frame, who struck again when Paul Stirling gloved one down the legside to Bairstow and departed after a review.

It should not take long for England to wrap things up on Saturday – and then all thoughts really will turn to what will surely be a much more competitive contest.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Kim Cattrall will make a shock return as Sex And The City’s Samantha Jones for the second season of spin-off And Just Like That… – despite her explosive feud with star Sarah Jessica Parker.

Kim, 66, will return for only one ‘cliffhanger’, which she shot on March 22 in NYC, without seeing or speaking with stars SJP, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis. 

The scene was also shot without AJLT showrunner Michael Patrick King. In the scene, Samantha, who has moved to London, will have a phone conversation with Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw – in a move that will no doubt stun fans.

Their feud has long been documented, with Sarah remaining coy and defiant while Kin has lashed out in a spectacular fashion.  

Now, after public swipes, pay discrepancies and nasty digs, we take a look at the spat between Kim and Sarah Jessica… 

What pay discrepancy? COLD HARD CASH

It was long reported that, Sarah earned a much larger salary than her costars during her time in the show – which eventually led to it going off the air in 2004.

In a 2004 interview about the pay-difference: ‘I felt after six years, it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City…

‘When they didn’t seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on.’

Four years after the series finished, it was reported that Kim was furious over Sarah Jessica’ executive producer title in the second season, which increased her salary to $300,000. 

When she learnt this, Kim is said to have tried to negotiate a higher salary – which was met with extreme anger as it was claimed the other stars ‘wouldn’t even sit with her at meal times.’ 

It was also flagged that in 2004, Kim didn’t sit with the other actresses at the Emmys – to which she said: ‘Are we the best of friends? No. We’re professional actresses. We have our own separate lives.’

On their friendship, Kim said to Piers Morgan: We’ve never been friends – we’ve been colleagues. And in some ways that’s a very healthy place to be, as you have a clear line between your professional life, and your personal, too’.

‘When will that Sarah Jessica Parker . . . leave you alone?’ KIM’S BROTHER’S DEATH

Kim’s public swipes at Sarah Jessica have been numerous, yet an unexpected reaction came after the tragic death of her brother Chris.  

In February 2018, Chris, 55, went missing when he left the house unlocked without his phone and wallet, after which Kim issued a plea for information. 

With a heavy heart she then confirmed that he was found dead near his home in Alberta, Canada. Further details were not given, yet it was revealed that police ‘had no reason to believe there was anything suspicious involved in his death.’ 

Shortly his death, Kim took to Instagram to thank both her fans and her Sex and the City colleagues for support before hitting out at Sarah. 

Following her thank yous, four days later, Kim shared an image with words reading: ‘You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.’

She added a caption on the shot directed at Sarah, reading: ‘My Mom asked me today ‘When will that, that hypocrite, leave you alone?’ Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now…

‘Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.’

 ‘It’s a no from me’: KIM’S VOW TO SHUN AND JUST LIKE THAT…

In 2019, whispers began surrounding And Just Like That, with the presence of  Samantha causing widespread whispers, before it was announced that Kim was refusing to get on-board amid unrest behind-the-scenes.

The first season of the new incarnation of the show, renamed And Just Like That, ran for ten episodes on HBO in 2021 and the new series is returning soon.

Back in 2019, the network’s chief content officer, Casey Bloys, reflected on Samantha’s exit, saying: ‘Just as in real life, people come into your life, people leave. Friendships fade and new friendships start.’

Explaining why she would not return, Kim said in 2019: ‘It’s a “no” from me. You learn lessons in life and my lesson is to do work with good people and try and make it fun.’

Even SJP has claimed she does not want Kim back – when asked by Variety in a 2022 interview if she would be ‘OK’ if Kim was able to come back to the show if some ‘miracle were to happen,’ after their very public feud exploded back in 2018.

Parker responded: ‘I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared. I haven’t participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.’

‘We didn’t go to Kim for this, you know,’ Parker said. ‘After we didn’t do the movie and the studio couldn’t meet what she wanted to do, we have to hear her and listen to her and what was important to her.’

‘It didn’t fit into what was important or needed for us. There’s a very distinct line between Samantha and Kim,’ Parker continued.