Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump aide says Putin is suffering 'staggering' losses ...

Ukraine attacked Russian online retail giant Wildberries’ warehouses in St Petersburg on Friday, which Kyiv said is part of infrastructure supporting the Russian military.

Wildberries confirmed it had ceased operations at two regional logistics sites and evacuated staff from its Crimea warehouse and a Reuters video shows two vast plumes of black smoke rising over the area.

The strikes mark the fifth attack on Wildberries warehouses since 18 July, affecting around 10 per cent of its logistics capacity.

It follows reports that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is losing a “staggering number” of troops – upwards of 5,000 to 6,000 in a week – in his war against Ukraine , US secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

Rubio said the conflict is one of the only wars in history where the number of troops killed in combat is exceeding the number of troops injured.

Meanwhile, Romania’s president confirmed that F-16s shot down drones violating Nato airspace across its borders on Friday morning, its president said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has met in Kyiv with senior representatives of Raytheon , the U.S. company that makes the Patriot air defense systems Ukraine desperately needs to counter the ballistic missiles Russia uses to advance its invasion.

The meeting came less than three weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriots. The pledge marked an important shift as Trump recently has adopted a more positive tone towards Zelenskyy.

In another sign that Ukraine is changing minds in Washington, ardent Trump ally Laura Loomer met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday. After years of minimizing the invasion, she rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin for missile attacks on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said late Thursday he met with a Raytheon delegation, adding that the company was ready to jointly produce Patriot interceptors with Ukraine. The system is made up of radars, command-and-control systems and different types of interceptor missiles.

The company made no immediate the meeting on its website or social media accounts.

Read the full story here.

Six people were killed and 26 injured in a Ukrainian missile attack on a factory in Russia's Kirov region, the regional governor, Alexander Sokolov, said on Friday.

He said that some of those wounded were being treated in hospital and that a fire sparked by the attack had been put out.

Hardline right-wing activist Laura Loomer has said she will personally ask President Donald Trump to send a shipment of signed “Make America Great Again” ( MAGA) hats to President Volodymyr Zelensky ’s presidential palace via a “high-tech delivery drone”.

Loomer has backtracked on her position as one of Ukraine’s biggest critics , who has pushed a string of Kremlin-friendly narratives, and declared her support for the country’s cause against invasion by Russia – having conducted an interview with Zelensky for her social media channels that is yet to be released.

In snippets shared on X, Loomer noted that Mr Zelensky was wearing a suit and “looks good” in one.

A significant warehouse operated by Russian online retail giant Wildberries in the Leningrad region, near St. Petersburg, caught fire on Friday following what Governor Alexander Drozdenko attributed to a Ukrainian drone attack. Three people sustained injuries in the incident.

Wildberries confirmed it had ceased operations at two regional logistics sites and evacuated staff from its Crimea warehouse. A Reuters video from the scene depicted two vast plumes of black smoke rising over the area. This marks the fifth attack on Wildberries warehouses since 18 July, affecting around 10 per cent of its logistics capacity.

While Wildberries reported no staff injuries in this latest strike, eight people were killed in the 18 July attacks on logistics hubs in Kotovsk and Elektrostal. On 22 July, 10 people were injured in attacks on Wildberries warehouses in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk.

Kyiv maintains that the company is part of infrastructure supporting the Russian military, a claim Moscow denies, stating Wildberries is central to the consumer economy and handles no military supplies.

Together with competitors, Wildberries and Ozon sell goods and services equivalent to 8.5 per cent of Russia's gross domestic product, employing four million people, or over 5 per cent of the country's workforce.

A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone breaching the country's airspace early on Friday, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said, the latest in a series of incursions into the NATO member's airspace.

"This morning, around 11:00, a Romanian pilot on an F-16 aircraft shot down a drone that entered our country's airspace," Dan wrote on social media platform X.

"The area was uninhabited, so the pilot was able to shoot without any risk. Currently, teams of the relevant institutions are investigating the area to come up with all the details the incident."

Dan did not specify the origin of the drone.

The Romanian Defence Ministry said the drone was shot down near the town of Padina in Buzau County in the east of the country.

Russia said on Friday that its forces struck three Ukrainian ports in overnight attacks targeting infrastructure including loading and unloading facilities and fuel reserves, which support Kyiv's armed forces.

Russia's defence ministry said air-launched missiles and strike drones had struck the ports of Odesa, Izmail and Mykolaiv as part of a campaign of heavy strikes against Ukraine.

It said in a statement that storage tanks containing fuel and lubricants earmarked for the Ukrainian army had been hit in Odesa, and that unloading and storage facilities used for military cargo - including sea drones - had been struck in Izmail. A floating dry dock in Izmail had also been hit.

In Mykolaiv, the Defence Ministry said its forces had struck a cargo ship which had been unloading military shipment.

The Independent could not independently verify the ministry's assertions.

Laura Loomer, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump known for her incendiary social media commentary, held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, following a significant shift in her stance on the conflict that could have political implications in Washington.

For years, Loomer had downplayed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and disseminated Russian propaganda to her nearly two million followers. However, this week marked a notable change of heart for the activist.

"Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian," Loomer posted on X. "I often said I don’t care. Looking back, that wasn’t very nice of me to say."

Russian defence ministry said on Friday that Russian forces have struck a bulker at the Ukrainian Mykolaiv port during loading.

The vessel was carrying military cargo, the ministry said.