Russian strikes hit Ukraine; Kyiv drones strike back

Russia opened the day with a wave of strikes across Ukraine. In Kramatorsk at least 16 people were wounded; in Dnipro a food plant was hit twice, killing two workers and wounding five; Kryvyi Rih's public broadcaster studio was damaged, and a Kyiv fuel station caught fire after a drone strike. Ukraine hit back. President Zelensky said drones struck eight targets inside Russia in the past 24 hours, while special forces hit oil infrastructure at Russia's Caspian port of Makhachkala. Separately, an investigation found three of the five tankers US forces struck were part of Russia's sanctions-evading shadow fleet. On the diplomatic front, Washington reportedly pushed NATO allies to help dismantle the International Criminal Court. In Dallas, Trump dominated a Republican convention two months before the US midterms. In Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht's BSW opened coalition talks with the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt after its landslide win, while Lithuania said it would keep flying to Russia and Belarus despite pressure to stop. Meanwhile, the EU's Copernicus service confirmed August 2026 was the hottest August on record at 16.96C, with ocean temperatures hitting a new high after western Europe's hottest-ever summer.