Westminster sideshow is a distraction from the war in Ukraine but show of strength continues - Patrick Mercer

To add to the carnival, Nigel Farage has thrown his hat into the circus ring. It looks as though Clacton may be seeing quite a lot more political action and if the electorate is really lucky they’ll get the coronation of a new Manc Prime Minister, Count Binface becoming a household name and yet another by-election that may test Reform to destruction.

So much for the ‘silly season’ when newsrooms are quiet and reporters have to scratch around for stories. It’s certain, though, that all this music hall stuff will keep our eyes firmly away from the cataclysm in Ukraine.

Now, the Nato summit which concluded in Turkey last Wednesday will be remembered, chiefly, for Donald Trump’s fruity description of the Iranian leadership and galloping petrol prices. How many of us noticed, though, the parallel shows of strength put on by both Kiev and Moscow in the weeks that led up to the summit?

The Ukrainians have certainly dominated the information war with their long range attacks on Crimea, Moscow and oil refineries in Russia’s interior. Undoubtedly, the Kremlin’s abilities to keep their logistic lines open and effectively support their troops has been dented. Just as importantly, the tens of thousands who swarm to Crimea’s beaches and resorts have had their holidays ruined. Hardly a military masterstroke, but every mother and child who has had their summer break scuppered will bear testimony to the emotional effect of Kiev’s operations.

Who, though, has heard of Mr Putin’s similar, successful operations in Bessarabia? Indeed, where is this exotic sounding piece of soil? Well, it’s the Ukrainian district to the south of Odessa bordering Romania through which much of the Nato supplied hardware flows and whose strategically vital bridges have largely been destroyed by Russia.

It can’t be important if we haven’t been told about it, can it? Well toy with this: at the Ankara summit Mr Zelensky has been calling for urgent supplies of western air defence weapons to protect Kiev and other parts of his heartland from Russia’s increasingly brutal drone and missile bombardments. Why is this so critical? Because most munitions have already been used and there’s not been much to replenish them due to the Russian destruction of bridges in Bessarabia.

Then there’s Konstantinovka. That’s the most southerly fortified city of Kiev’s ‘fortress belt’ which runs along the Donetsk border forming the last, great series of defences to the east of the Dneiper river. Moscow reckons that her men have taken it and are now ready to punch northwards to outflank the other forts.

But, Mr Zelensky denies this. He says that Konstantinovka holds firm, that small, Russian patrols may have sneaked past the main redoubts to give the appearance of having enveloped the whole garrison, but the reality is very different.

He cites other claims in the past where Russia said that they’d seized a town, but all they’d really achieved was a patchy cordon around a hornet’s nest of Ukrainians which drained Moscow’s resources for months.

So who do you believe? Both sides understand the power of propaganda and both will bend and embroider the truth in an attempt to wrest the support of Mr Trump or to encourage/deter the European countries. What is undeniable, though, is that the fighting has been bitter - Russia has offered to return more than 6,000 fallen Ukrainian troops during a ‘humanitarian’ ceasefire, but that has been ignored and the drones continue to deal death.

Naturally, the summit wasn’t all about Ukraine, indeed, that issue seemed to be overwhelmed by Iran and wider Nato attempts to keep Mr Trump and America fully onside. I did feel for Sir Keir, though, in what promised to be an extremely awkward swan song for him.

Remember the ‘Dip’ (UK’s Defence Investment Plan) rumpus last month? Well, there were suggestions that The Donald might confront Sir Keir over its shortcomings, perhaps repeating his comments about "weak leaders" and Britain becoming a "deindustrialized welfare zone" or even adding to his mockery of our aircraft carriers and armed forces generally.

But the US President spared our PM who said “I had no discussion with Donald Trump in which he made any issue with me in relation to the defence spending for the United Kingdom.”

For all the world Sir Keir looked and sounded just like a lad who’d been summoned to the Headmaster’s office but somehow emerged without six of the best!

Amongst all this repartee, though, it would be easy to miss the sinister words of Marco Rubio the US’s Secretary of State. As the summit closed a public agreement was reached between Zelensky and Trump that Ukraine would be allowed to manufacture US Patriot air defence missiles under licence.

Such an open declaration really means that home grown Patriot missiles are already on Ukraine’s production line and that the White House is willing to accept whatever form the Kremlin’s retaliation takes.

Patrick Mercer is a former MP for Newark and Army Colonel.