Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has cried foul over the $11 billion route, calling it a sell-out to the Kremlin leader, though his rhetoric has calmed of late.

Ukraine’s Antonov State Enterprise, formerly known as the Antonov Design Bureau, was founded in the late 1940s.

Periodic shootouts have increased along the border, where a kilometre here or a metre there apparently is enough reason to unleash heavy calibre weaponry