Russian drones kill mother, son in northern Ukraine

Russian jet-powered drones strike a home in northern Ukraine on Friday, killing a 29-year-old woman and her nine-year-old son, officials say.

The strike comes a day after the United Nations says July is the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since the weeks following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

At least 437 civilians are killed and 2,610 wounded in July, according to the UN human rights monitoring mission in Kyiv, as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities.

Since Russia launches its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, UN human rights monitors record at least 16,874 civilian deaths, including 820 children, and 51,273 injuries, including 3,126 children.

“Every month this year the number of killed and injured civilians has increased. That trend accelerated sharply in July,” says Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Kyiv. “The number of civilian casualties in July was the highest we documented in a single month since March 2022.”

The Russian strike in northern Ukraine's Sumy region early Friday also wounds four people, including the boy's father and grandmother, who are hospitalised with severe burns, regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov says.

Russian glide bombs devastate front-line areas

In Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, a Russian glide bomb demolishes six floors of a 10-storey apartment building, killing one person and wounding 16 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.

Russia launches around 220 glide bombs every day against settlements near the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says in a social media post on Friday.

Russian forces use 3,000-pound (1,300-kilogramme) glide bombs, artillery, missiles and drones to devastate settlements before sending infantry units to attack exposed Ukrainian defenders. The tactic leaves many towns and villages uninhabitable.

Overall, Russia attacks 12 Ukrainian regions overnight, wounding dozens of people, Zelenskyy says.

Ukrainian drones target major Russian port

Ukrainian forces meanwhile extend their long-range strike campaign against Russian infrastructure, hitting the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region north of Moscow and briefly starting a fire, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko says.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia's largest oil and gas export terminals and is located more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Ukraine.

The port has been a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks this summer as Kyiv seeks to disrupt Russian oil exports, which provide Moscow with vital revenue for its war effort.

Ukraine also launches another attack on the premises of Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, which Kyiv says helps supply the Russian military.

The attack damages a wall of a Wildberries warehouse in the Tver region north of Moscow, acting regional governor Vitaly Korolyov says.

Wildberries reports “insignificant damage” and says goods stored at the site are not damaged.

Russia's Defence Ministry says its air defences intercept 553 Ukrainian drones overnight across 18 Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and Black seas.

NATO jets shoot down drone over Latvia

NATO fighter jets shoot down a drone that enters Latvian airspace early Friday, the Latvian army and a NATO official say.

Latvian authorities do not identify the drone's origin but say it enters Latvia “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare”.

Several drones have previously crossed into Latvia. Most are believed to be Ukrainian drones that stray off course because of Russian electronic jamming.

Two Italian Eurofighter jets are scrambled to intercept the drone, and one shoots it down, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart says.

Two Turkish fighter jets are also deployed, she says.

Residents in five municipalities in eastern Latvia are warned about the airspace threat and told to take shelter.