As Ukraine and Russia exchanged intensifying attacks and held a second round of negotiations on Monday, the Trump administration has been notably quiet -- signaling a forewarned but subtle shift in the U.

U.S. military commentators praised Ukraine's "remarkable" Trojan Horse-like use of wooden sheds as it bombed as deep into Russia as Siberia.

Expensive planes, tanks, and ships can be destroyed on the cheap.

With 41 military aircraft impacted, the Ukrainian drone attack was described by some commentators as Russia's "Pearl Harbor." The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 was a surprise air raid by Japan on the U.S. during World War II. Kyiv's assault follows ground advances by Moscow troops in recent days in Ukraine's Sumy border region.

The attack demonstrated Ukraine’s ability to use relatively cheap drones to take out expensive aircraft and to strike sites far from its borders.

It also roughly tallies with attempts by Russian independent media, such as Meduza and Mediazona, to count the bodies. By this time last year, Meduza reckoned that between 106,000-140,000 Russian soldiers had died. Much of their analysis was based on inheritance records and obituaries on social media and in other outlets.

The strikes help Kyiv "negotiate from a position of strength," Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Newsweek.