During the last week of July, Russia mounted its largest assaults in eight months in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, seizing a string of settlements in an apparent bid to cut off key supply routes and force a mass Ukrainian retreat. At the same time, Ukraine scored a high number of hits on Russian energy infrastructure and occupied Crimea, suggesting that its strategy of degrading Russian air defences is working. Russian assaults focused on central and southern Donetsk – from areas west of Bakhmut, which fell in May last year, to areas west of Avdiivka, which was lost in February, down to areas west of the city of Donetsk, which pro-Moscow separatists have controlled since 2014 – a line about 130km (80 miles) long. Russian forces have pressed their advantage in these areas to prevent Ukraine from digging entrenched defences, and they have inched forward for months, swallowing settlements at a staggering cost to their own troops. British military intelligence estimated that Russian casualties in May and June reached record daily highs of about 1,200 – about 70,000 soldiers for just those two months.

Canada qualified for the quarter-finals of the Olympics women's football tournament - hours after losing their appeal against a six-point deduction after a drone was used to spy on a rival team's training session. The Canadians were docked six points while coach Bev Priestman and officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander were banned from any football-related activity for one year after New Zealand lodged a complaint about drones flying over their training sessions. While Canada accepted the bans for their backroom staff, they argued the points deduction was too severe. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal on Wednesday. However, Canada - who won Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago - won all three matches to advance as Group A runners-up, behind leaders France.

The head of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan survived a drone strike on the Gebeit army base while attending a graduation ceremony. Five people were killed in the strike.

Sudan's army leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, says the military will not join talks next month in Switzerland aimed at ending more than a year of fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Al-Burhan made the statement on Wednesday, shortly after the military said he survived a drone strike on a military graduation at the Gibeit army base in eastern Sudan that killed at least five people. "We will not retreat, we will not surrender and we will not negotiate," al-Burhan told troops. "We are not scared of drones," he said at the Gibeit base, which is about 100km (62 miles) southwest of Port Sudan, where the army-aligned government fled after war broke out with the RSF in April last year. The fighting has created the world's largest displacement crisis and killed at least 15,500 people, according to United Nations estimates. Video of the drone attack, verified by the Reuters news agency, showed soldiers marching in a graduation ceremony before a whirring sound can be heard.

Mr Zelensky repeated calls for allies to speed up deliveries of the air defence systems Ukraine relies on, particularly US-made Patriots. "We need sufficiently courageous decisions from our partners - enough air defence systems, enough range," he said. Ukraine continues to strike back. Its military said on Wednesday that it had hit a weapons depot in the Russian region of Kursk. The local governor said a "facility" had been hit overnight, causing a fire, but did not provide further detail. Meanwhile, Moscow's slow-moving advance into Ukrainian territory is grinding on.

After 27 years of developing airliners, my involvement in electric aircraft started suddenly one afternoon in February 2017. I was asked to comment on the eHang 184, a Chinese passenger drone, which could in theory provide automated taxi services in Dubai. The oft-quoted part of the resulting article will probably appear in my obituary. Wright added that he would not be volunteering for an early flight. 'I'd have to be taken on board kicking and screaming.'"

Previous talks to end the conflict, which has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, have failed as both sides have refused to honour their commitments. More than 10 million people have fled their homes since the former allies fell out over an internationally backed political plan to move towards civilian rule. The Jabait army base is about 100km (62 miles) from Port Sudan, the military's de facto capital and where Gen Burhan is based. Video footage being shared from those attending the ceremony on Wednesday morning shows military graduates marching in ceremonial dress before the sound of a strike. "The only party that is hostile to the Sudanese people and targeting the Sudanese people is the rebel Rapid Support Forces," Gen Abdallah told the BBC.

Ukraine's air force says it has repelled one of the largest aerial barrages launched by Russia on its territory in months. The air force said on Wednesday that it shot down all the incoming projectiles – 89 drones and one missile – launched by Russia overnight, the attack mainly targeting the central region of Kyiv. Kyiv's military administration said more than 40 of the drones were downed over the capital, Kyiv, and its outskirts. There was some damage to buildings as a result of falling debris, but no casualties were reported. "Today Ukrainian air defence withstood and repelled a massive attack by enemy drones," the air force said in a statement, identifying them as "Shahed-131/136 strike drones".

Fox News' Chad Pergram previews the Senate's Tuesday hearing with acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate as lawmakers continue investigating the security lapses at Trump's Butler rally. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. admitted to the Senate on Tuesday that the assassination attempt against former President Trump was "a failure of the Secret Service," and not local law enforcement. Rowe's admission was the most direct assignment of guilt by the Secret Service and investigators since the July 13 shooting. The acting director appeared before the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees on Tuesday alongside FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. Rowe detailed the failure of a drone detection system that was supposed to be online before shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks conducted his own reconnaissance the day of the rally.

Former U.S. ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson discusses Biden's recent effort to show American allies that he is fit to serve as president and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's concern about delaying action against Russia. Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses there. Separately, attacks in Russia's Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, struck a number of substations causing power outages, according to a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine. The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it thwarted a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack. "They pressed non-stop" to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda.