Gravitational light deflection, predicted by general relativity, is a fascinating phenomenon with numerous important applications in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. At first sight, there is no analogous effect in electrodynamics because Maxwell's equations are linear and, therefore, a photon does not interact with the electromagnetic field of an alleged deflector charge. However, quantum electrodynamical corrections bring nonlinearities in the theory. As a result, in a external electromagnetic field, the vacuum acquires an effective refractive index. One immediate consequence of this effective refractive index is the deflection of light in a Coulomb field. In this paper, the authors use light bending by a Coulomb field as a pedagogical tool for a discussion of the electrodynamical analogue of the general relativistic Aichelburg-Sexl ultraboost. (Contains 1 figure.)