Daily Briefing

Key Takeaways

• Russia launched 112 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine overnight; air defenses intercepted 90, with hits recorded at 11 locations — including a lethal strike on a Sumy Oblast home that killed a 29-year-old mother and her 9-year-old son.
• The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission reports July 2026 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since May 2022: 437 killed and 2,610 wounded, a 30% rise over June, with child casualties at their highest since April 2022.
• Ukraine's deep-strike campaign continues to escalate: overnight drones ignited a fire at Russia's Ust-Luga Baltic port (Leningrad Oblast) and struck a Wildberries warehouse in Tver Oblast for the third time in ten days; the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan was hit again.
• Poland is finalizing a barter deal to transfer MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine within weeks in exchange for Ukrainian drones and drone-warfare know-how, per Wirtualna Polska (7 sources corroborated).
• Zelensky told CNN Ukraine needs just 5% of US Patriot interceptor stocks to survive the coming winter strike campaign, while separately submitting new peace-process proposals to Washington and ruling out any Donbas concessions.