Ukraine-Russia War Latest: ‘Russia’s Amazon’ Hit by Strikes as Trump Aide Says Putin Losing 5,000 Troops a Week

Ukraine-Russia War Latest: ‘Russia’s Amazon’ Hit by Strikes as Trump Aide Says Putin Losing 5,000 Troops a Week

By Namita Singh & Maira Butt

At least five people were killed in the city of Sloviansk, in addition to those in Kyiv.

A Russian ballistic missile strike on Friday killed 10 people and injured close to 100 at the site of a defence industry event in Ukraine’s Kyiv region, Ukrainian prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko said.

Ukraine’s emergency services said its crews had completed rescue operations at the site north of the capital. Russia is yet to comment on the attack.

This comes as five people were killed and nine ‌injured in the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine in a Russian aerial bomb attack killed, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on ​Friday.

Wildberries confirmed it had ceased operations at two regional logistics sites and evacuated staff from its Crimea warehouse and a Reuters video shows two vast plumes of black smoke rising over the area.

The strikes mark the fifth attack on Wildberries warehouses since 18 July, affecting around 10 per cent of its logistics capacity.It follows reports that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is losing a “staggering number” of troops – upwards of 5,000 to 6,000 in a week – in his war against Ukraine, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

KEY POINTS

• Russian missile strike kills 10 at Ukrainian defence event
• White House says Trump, Zelensky to meet in Washington next week
• Zelensky says US and Ukraine moving forward on joint drone production
• Russian aerial bomb kills five in eastern Ukraine

In pictures: Aftermath of overnight Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia

Rescuers work at a site of the central market hit by Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine July 25, 2026. (Reuters)

A rescuer works at a site of the central market hit by Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine July 25, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer (Reuters)

Rescuers work at a site of the central market hit by Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine July 25, 2026. (Reuters)

A Romanian F-16 fighter jet has shot down a second drone breaching the country’s airspace on Saturday, the defence ministry has said.

On Friday F-16s shot down a drone encroaching Romanian airspace, the country’s president said.

Maira Butt25 July 2026 07:25
Ukraine is still fortifying its border with Belarus years after Russia invaded from there

More than four years after Russia launched its assault on Kyiv from Belarus, Ukraine is still fortifying the border it shares with Moscow’s ally. What was once a busy crossing between the two countries is now a quiet, mine-laden stretch of land closed off to civilians.

Roads near the 1,084-kilometer-long (673-mile-long) border are covered for long distances by anti-drone netting. The surrounding landscape is dominated by rows of razor wire and concrete anti-tank barriers known as “dragon’s teeth.”

The Associated Press visited parts of the border in northern Ukraine earlier this month, following a rise in tensions between the two countries; Ukraine demanded that Belarus shut down communications relay stations Russia had installed to boost the range of its drones attacking Ukrainian cities.

Namita Singh | 25 July 2026 06:30
White House says Trump, Zelensky to meet in Washington next week

A Ukrainian source said Zelenskiy was interested in travelling to the United States but his team was waiting for official confirmation of Trump’s schedule from the White House.

The source added that Ukrainians and US officials had been discussing a proposal for an air ceasefire to take to Russian officials, as part of a new round of peace proposals to try to end the war that began in ⁠2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The source said Ukraine ​had approached Russian president Vladimir Putin in the past with offers of a ceasefire, which had been turned down. However, some officials believe that pressure on Russia’s economy from ongoing Ukrainian drone and missile strikes may soften Putin’s stance.

Zelensky spoke on Wednesday ​with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared ‌Kushner about the prospects for renewed peace talks with Russia, and said that Ukrainian and US officials could meet in the United States in the coming days.

Acting Ukrainian defence ‌minister Yevhenii Khmara, writing on Telegram, said he and ‌new Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi had met US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker on Friday in Kyiv and discussed different factors in confronting Russia on the battlefield.

“We have a strong synergy and shared vision of the war with Commander Drapatyi: technological superiority, asymmetric solutions, and more opportunities to destroy the enemy,” Khmara said.

“We informed our partners about the situation on the front and Ukraine’s steps to force Russia into a fair peace.”

Earlier on Friday, right-wing activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer interviewed Zelensky and said he had told her he would likely be in the United States next week for a trip that would include a meeting with Trump.

Loomer, in a post on ‌X, added that Zelensky said he would attend the funeral for US Senator ​Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this month.

Namita Singh | 25 July 2026 06:00
Ukrainians back ousted defence minister as political crisis brews

Protesters in Kyiv on Friday announced an open-ended rally demanding that pesident Volodymyr Zelensky reappoint ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov after a badly explained government reshuffle escalated into a political crisis.

The protest peaked last week, when thousands of angry Ukrainians took to the streets to insist on Fedorov’s reinstatement and dismissal of then commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom some accused of disregarding servicemen’s lives and stalling army modernisation.

But even as Zelensky replaced Syrskyi with respected commander Mykhailo Drapatyi, hundreds of people returned outside the presidential office on Friday to press on.

Attendees hold placards and chant slogans during a demonstration to protest against Ukraine’s President’s decision to dismiss Ukraine’s former Defence Minister, in Kyiv on 24 July 2026 (AFP/Getty)

“We stood, `we stand, and we will stand,” they chanted. Protest organiser Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a military veteran, told Reuters he believed people were ready to keep it on “as long as it takes”.

Zelensky, who previously argued Fedorov’s dismissal was due to irreparable conflict with Syrskyi, presented him with a choice of several roles, including vice prime minister for defence innovation. But a 35 -year-old credited with cleaning up the defence ministry publicly dismissed the offer. Fedorov said none of the posts had actual authority to proceed with necessary reforms.

“We don’t need Fedorov just as a figurehead. We need Fedorov as a young reformer. And unfortunately, the posts offered by the president do not carry sufficient influence or provide the necessary tools to press on with reform,” Koziatynskyi added.

Namita Singh | 25 July 2026 05:30
Zelensky says US and Ukraine moving forward on joint drone production

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast on Friday that cooperation between Kyiv and Washington on drones would include a US factory to produce the unmanned aerial vehicles using Ukraine’s advanced technology.

Zelensky, interviewed by US right-wing blogger Laura Loomer, said Ukraine wanted to build quickly on an initial agreement on drones clinched with Washington.

The Ukrainian president said drone technology was undergoing constant change, with Ukrainian drones now able to operate over 3,000km with the prospect of even longer distances.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes Joseph DeAntona, vice president of Requirements and Capabilities for Land and Air Defence Systems at Raytheon (Reuters)

Ukraine has excelled at drone innovation as it has pursued asymmetrical ⁠warfare against Russia during their four-year-old conflict, and Kyiv has ​shared ⁠its advances with some ‌allies.

“Important technology. This is what we have. And America has great technology. Our drone deal is win-win,” he said in the interview made available on X.

“We ‌will build a great factory in the United States. We want to (have) lines of production,” he said.

In Washington, a source familiar with the matter said details of an agreement were still being worked out ahead of Zelensky’s talks with US president Donald Trump, scheduled for Tuesday, according to a White House official.

Reuters, in a report from Kyiv quoting a source familiar with the matter, said Ukraine had agreed to export drones ‌to the United States to participate in the ​Pentagon’s Drone Dominance programme.

Six Ukrainian companies have received permission to export about 100 drones each, the source said,

Namita Singh | 25 July 2026 05:00
Russian aerial bomb kills five in eastern Ukraine

In eastern Ukraine, a Russian aerial bomb attack killed five people and ‌injured nine in the city of Sloviansk, Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on ​Friday.

He later said that a new Russian strike on the city in ‌the evening injured 16 people and damaged residential buildings. In Sumy region, a frequent Russian target on Ukraine’s northern border, a Russian drone strike killed two people, Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Telegram.

Firefighters remove debris from a street at the site of a residential area hit by a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, 24 July 2026 (Reuters)

And in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a ‌Russian strike set fire to ​a shopping centre, injuring a number of ‌people, the regional governor said. Both sides deny targeting ​civilians in the war launched by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Namita Singh25 July 2026 04:29
Russian missile strike kills 10 at Ukrainian defence event

A Russian ballistic missile strike on Friday in Ukraine’s Kyiv region killed 10 people and injured close to 100 at the site of a defence industry event that president Volodymyr Zelensky said should never have taken place.

Ukraine’s Emergency Services said its crews had completed rescue operations at the site north of the capital.

Pictures posted online by the Emergency Services showed teams sifting through piles of rubble at the site, adjacent to several houses. “Of course, the cause of this attack is Russian missiles, nothing ​but Russian terror,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

People gather on a street at the site of a residential area hit by a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, 24 July 2026 (Reuters)

“However, we have said a thousand times that under these wartime conditions, with such an enemy, it is absolutely unacceptable to hold any weapons exhibitions with large crowds of people, especially near residential buildings.”

The ​event, ⁠hosted by a drone manufacturers’ association, ‌was taking place in an area a short drive from the outskirts of the capital.

A spokesperson for the military’s general staff said the event took place at a site not under its jurisdiction, but added that any such event required “maximum security measures”. The acting governor of Kyiv region, Ruslan Oliynyk, said that a day of mourning would be observed on Saturday in the region.

Holly Evans25 July 2026 02:00
Zelensky’s new military chief wins widespread approval after surprise sacking

After days of protests, Volodymyr Zelensky acquiesced to demands to sack his military’s commander-in-chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, and replaced him with the much younger Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, who enjoys a formidable battlefield reputation.

Sirskyi, 60, appointed in 2023, was credited with forcing Russian forces to retreat from their attempt to capture the capital, Kyiv, at the start of Moscow’s February 2022 full scale invasion. Later that year, he masterminded a surprise offensive that routed Russians occupying large swathes of territory in Ukraine’s north eastern Kharkiv region.

But many Ukrainians disliked Sirskyi, saying he retained the rigid traits and strict hierarchical attitude from his Soviet-era military training and service. They also accused him of not caring enough about how many of his men lost their lives.

In contrast, 43-year-old Drapatyi’s appointment has met wide approval.

Read the full analysis here:

Zelensky’s new military chief wins widespread approval after surprise sacking

Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi’s appointment as head of the military has met wide approval in Ukraine, with many disliking the rigid Soviet-style of General Oleksandr Syrskyi, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Kyiv.

Holly Evans25 July 2026 01:00
White House says Trump and Zelensky to meet in Washington next week

Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday, a White House official said on Friday.

A Ukrainian source said Zelensky was interested in travelling to the United ​States but his team was waiting for official confirmation of Trump’s schedule from the White House.

He is reportedly hoping to attend the funeral of US Senator Senator Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this month.

Earlier on Friday, right-wing activist and ‌Trump ally Laura Loomer interviewed Zelensky ‌and said he had told her he would likely be in the United States next week for a trip that would include a meeting with Trump.

Original Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-live-kyiv-attack-trump-putin-zelensky-b3021367.html