Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing
People sit on the beach of Moutchic as smoke rises from a wildfire. Photograph: Maximilien Lamy/AFP/Getty ImagesJim PowellFri 24 Jul 2026 14.02 EDTLast modified on Fri 24 Jul 2026 14.47 EDTShare
Kyiv, Ukraine
Fire and smoke rise from an apartment building damaged during Russian missile strikes in Kyiv. Russia carried out one of its biggest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities this week, launching a five-hour assault that left at least six people dead and dozens injured, and caused fires and damage across the capitalPhotograph: Gleb Garanich/ReutersShare
St Petersburg, Russia
Smoke billows into the sky after Ukrainian drone strikes on warehouses of Russia’s online retailer Wildberries. Ukrainian drones have hit at least nine Wildberries warehouses on four of the past seven days, striking logistics centres from southern Russia to the outskirts of St Petersburg, killing at least nine people and destroying inventory worth billions of dollarsPhotograph: APShare
Kyiv, Ukraine
Protesters attend a demonstration on Sunday against the decision to dismiss Ukraine’s defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and to demand the dismissal of Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Syrskyi on Tuesday and offered a ‘prominent position’ to Fedorov who was sacked last week in a move that sparked the nationwide protestsPhotograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Amputees take part in a match inspired by the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina amid the rubble in Gaza City. Palestinians widely supported Spain in the final because the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has strongly criticised Israel’s military campaignPhotograph: Mohammed Saber/EPAShare
Deir Jarir, West Bank
Palestinian women at the fuenral of Awda Farakhneh, who was killed by Israeli army fire after a settler attack. Even by the brutal standards of militant settler violence in the West Bank, the raid on Deir Jarir last Sunday night that killed two Palestinians and left another in hospital with a gunshot wound was extremePhotograph: Majdi Mohammed/APShare
Deir al-Balah, Gaza
A Palestinian girl searches for reusable items at a landfill site. Israel’s defence and finance ministers this week announced plans for three illegal settlements in Gaza and more than $400m (£300m) in funding to expand construction in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s military commander for the region celebrated the violent outposts as his ‘security partners’Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/APShare
People sit on the beach of Moutchic as smoke rises into the sky from a wildfire. Authorities in south-western France have ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast by land and sea as an ‘intense and highly unpredictable’ wildfire advances on one of the country’s best-known holiday spotsPhotograph: Maximilien Lamy/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
An aircraft flies past flames burning a forest surrounding Cotignac during a wildfire. The severity of fires in the EU has broken records for this time of year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed on Wednesday, and about twice as much land had burned by 22 July than the average for that date over the last two decades. France has broken records for the area burned; it and Spain have broken records for the number of firesPhotograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Parun, Afghanistan
People inspect the destruction and look for belongings after floodwaters swept through the town of Parun. Rescue crews were searching for survivors and bodies among the rubble of houses destroyed by devastating flash floods that authorities said had killed nearly two dozen people and left more than 100 missingPhotograph: ReutersShare
Zermatt, Switzerland
Rope parties climb the Breithorn from the Matterhorn glacier paradise on a warm summer day in ZermattPhotograph: Denis Balibouse/ReutersShare
Caraballeda, Venezuela
Volunteers and relatives of victims search for the bodies of their loved ones under the rubble of a building destroyed by the 24 June earthquakes in CaraballedaPhotograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
New Delhi, India
Supporters of the Cockroach Janta party scuffle with police as they attempt to march toward India’s parliament, demanding the resignation of the education minister. The Indian ‘cockroach’ activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike as youth-led protests continued to erupt across the country and leaders of the movement said there was no breakthrough in talks with the governmentPhotograph: Vipin/APShare
London, England
Staff welcome the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, and his wife, Marie-France van Heel, into 10 Downing Street. World leaders warmly congratulated Burnham as he become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, but international media largely focused on the scale of the challenges awaiting himPhotograph: Kin Cheung/ReutersShare
London, England
Britain’s Josh Kerr competes in the men’s one-mile event during the IAAF Diamond League athletics at the London stadium. Kerr shattered the one-mile world record in London and became the seventh British man to hold the record, following such greats as Roger Bannister, Lord Coe and Steve Ovett. ‘Absolutely incredible,’ was the verdict of Coe, the World Athletics president. ‘Foot perfect. To go into there with that kind of mental resilience, not off that many races this year. He executed it brilliantly’Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Glasgow, Scotland
Performers illustrate the Scottish textile industry during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in GlasgowPhotograph: Kin Cheung/APShare
East Rutherford, New Jersey, US
Spain’s Rodri lifts the World Cup trophy while Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino stand on stage at New York New Jersey stadium. Trump and Infantino were booed as they took to the field for the presentation ceremony before the US president attempted to gatecrash Spain’s victory partyPhotograph: Jean Catuffe/Getty ImagesShare
East Rutherford, New Jersey, US
Spain’s Pau Cubarsí falls after being tackled by Argentina’s midfielder Enzo Fernández during the World Cup final . Spain were the stronger team in the final and Argentina were damned by their lack of ambition even before they had Enzo Fernández sent off towards the end of the regulation timePhotograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersShareExplore more on these topics
