The week around the world in 20 pictures | Photography | The Guardian

People sit on a beach in Lacanau while massive smoke clouds rise across the water from a wildfire

People sit on the beach of Moutchic as smoke rises from a wildfire. Photograph: Maximilien Lamy/AFP/Getty Images

Fri 24 Jul 2026 14.02 EDT Last modified on Fri 24 Jul 2026 14.47 EDT

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 capital Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters

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 dollars Photograph: AP

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 protests Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

Gaza A wounded Palestinian child is brought to al-Shifa hospital for medical treatment after Israeli attacks onthe Jabalia refugee camp. Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, urged US federal authorities to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the US this year Photograph: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu/Getty Images

Gaza 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 campaign Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

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 extreme Photograph: Majdi Mohammed/AP

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/AP

Almorox, Spain Military emergencies unit personnel fight a wildfire near Almorox. Brutal heat in southern Europe has forced at least 30,000 people to flee wildfires in France and Spain as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that ‘Dantesque’ scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen Photograph: UME/AFP/Getty Images

Lacanau, France 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 spots Photograph: Maximilien Lamy/AFP/Getty Images

Pontevès, France Firefighters spray water as a wildfire flares up again in Pontevès. France has endured three almost back-to-back heatwaves since May as climate breakdown leads to more frequent and extreme weather events causing thousands of excess deaths, evaporating soils and waterways and fuelling wildfires Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images

Cotignac, France 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 fires Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images

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 missing Photograph: Reuters

Zermatt, Switzerland Rope parties climb the Breithorn from the Matterhorn glacier paradise on a warm summer day in Zermatt Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

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 Caraballeda Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

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 government Photograph: Vipin/AP

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 him Photograph: Kin Cheung/Reuters

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 Images

Glasgow, Scotland Performers illustrate the Scottish textile industry during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

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 party Photograph: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

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 time Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters