Pictured: The heavily-armed Russians being shadowed by the Royal Navy in the English Channel as Ukraine tensions get even higher and Trump 'turns off' British missiles

This is the chilling moment a Russian navy officer brandished a machine gun on a warship escorting a sanctioned cargo ship through the English Channel.

Dramatic pictures taken by The Times from a nearby fishing vessel show crew on board the Boikiy as it escorted the Baltic Leader cargo ship early on Monday.

Armed personnel were seen manning machine guns on the Boikiy, a 343ft-long Russian corvette that can carry up to 99 men at a time.

The warship moved in step with the large cargo ship sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 for transporting weapons for Russia, which has been getting bolder on the world stage in recent weeks as tensions in Ukraine reached a boiling point and the US rendered British Storm Shadow missiles useless. 

The Baltic Leader was this time carrying a shipment of military hardware from a Russian base in Tartus, Syria, where Kremlin operations are being wound down in the wake of the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

James Droxford, of the intelligence consultancy Droxford Maritime, said: 'The recovered military hardware onboard Baltic Leader could be used to reinforce Russia's combat capability in Ukraine, or to replenish military stocks in other key Russian military regions.'

The Boikiy's escort mission began at 5am on March 3, south of Torquay. 

The convoy slowly travelled across the English Channel, before it was followed by two vessels, HMS Somerset from the Royal Navy and Belgian Navy vessel BNS Crocus. 

The Baltic Leader was then seen leaving the English Channel on March 4 at 2pm.  

Somerset, which is bristling with its own array of weapons - including anti-ship missiles and a 4.5-inch naval gun - stalked the ships through the North Sea and English Channel.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: 'The British Type 23 frigate utilised its powerful sensors and radars to report on Russian movements, launching her Merlin helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron to gather valuable information from the sky.

'The ship worked hand in hand with UK patrol aircraft and allied Nato forces during the operation, providing constant watch on the task group.'

Somerset was scrambled on March 1 as the Russian warship headed south through the North Sea and English Channel to meet Baltic Leader, the Royal Navy said.

Satellite images showed the Baltic Leader left Tartus, Syria, on February 13. Russia has been winding down its use of the port since Assad's fall. 

This, combined with Ukraine's increased capability to sink Russian ships in the Black Sea, has resulted in increased activity in Syrian waters. 

Droxford said: 'Ukraine could destroy hundreds of tons of vital Russian military material in one go by attacking the ships and that's a huge risk for Russia to take.'

Joseph Byrne, senior analyst at the Open Source Centre, told the Times: 'While it isn't exactly clear what cargo the vessel is loading, Tartus is a port where Russia has been storing its military equipment, likely waiting for transport.

'Since mid-February we have seen a number of Russian flagged cargo vessels sail from Syria into the Mediterranean and through the English Channel.

'They have exhibited highly similar patterns of life, including switching off their transponders when entering Syrian waters and ports, not broadcasting their final destinations, and appearing to sail through the Channel with a military escort for protection.'

Russia's military has been getting bolder in recent weeks, while the West has been reeling from a series of catastrophic decisions from the Trump administration.  

Britain's long-range Storm Shadow missiles are feared to have been rendered useless in Ukraine after President Donald Trump blocked US intelligence from being shared with allies.

In a huge blow to Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russia's invasion, Trump froze American military aid to Kyiv before suspending intelligence sharing with President Volodymr Zelensky's war-torn country.

The UK, who has vowed to stand by Ukraine throughout the three-year war, is among those who have been banned from sharing Washington intelligence with Kyiv. 

It comes amid an ongoing transatlantic rift after Trump and Zelensky dramatically clashed in a heated Oval Office row last week, sparking a wave of support for Ukraine from European allies including Britain.

MailOnline revealed on Tuesday that UK intelligence agencies and military outlets have received an order expressly forbidding the sharing of US-generated intelligence, previously known as 'Rel UKR' - short for Releasable to Ukraine'.

The impact is likely to have major ramifications as British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, a critical asset used inside Russia's Kursk region by Ukraine, require US data to hit their targets. MailOnline has contacted the MoD for comment.

Storm Shadow missiles, jointly developed by the UK and France who call it Scalp, are precision-guided munitions used for deep-strike missions as they can hit targets up to 250km (155miles) away.

The effective missiles, believed to be roughly £2million each, allow Ukraine to penetrate hardened bunkers and ammunition stores and down critical infrastructure, command centres and logistics hubs at huge ranges.

Last week, NATO was forced to scramble warplanes from Poland after Vladimir Putin used strategic bombers and missiles to attack neighbouring Ukraine - even as Vladimir Putin insists he wants peace 'as soon as possible'.

Putin's air force deployed Tu-95MS nuclear-capable strategic bombers to pound targets across Ukraine, causing panic in Kyiv as residents rushed for the metro underground shelters.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy, as well as in several towns across the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv. Drones were also used by Russia, with several people reportedly suffering injuries.

Warsaw's armed forces operation command headquarters ordered NATO jets to patrol Polish airspace as Russian bombers and missiles soared over Ukraine amid fears they could approach the Polish border.

'Attention, due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, striking targets located, in particular, in the west of Ukraine, military aviation has begun to operate in the airspace of Poland,' the command headquarters said. 

Ground-based air defences and radar reconnaissance systems were also 'put on alert'.