Ukrainian drones hit Russian warehouses, killing eight

Ukrainian drones struck two warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries overnight, killing eight people and injuring more than 60, Russian officials said Saturday.

The strikes hit large logistics facilities in the Tambov region and in Elektrostal, east of Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the sites were “major logistics facilities” used to “supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.” He said Ukraine also struck an oil facility and targets in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and Russian-annexed Crimea.

Russian officials said seven night-shift workers were killed at the Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, and 25 people were injured there. Tambov regional Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov wrote on Telegram that the seven workers “died on the spot” and said seven of the injured were in serious condition. Most of the injuries were caused by shrapnel wounds, he said.

Pervyshov described the attack as the “largest and most inhumane” on the Tambov region in terms of the number of drones used and the number of casualties. He said 28 drones were shot down on approach.

In the Moscow region, a Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal was also hit. Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said 37 people were injured there and that one later died in the hospital. He said eight of the injured were in serious condition. Drone debris also hit a kindergarten building in Elektrostal, sparking a fire that was later extinguished, NPR reported.

Unverified images from one warehouse strike showed flames and thick black smoke rising from a large logistics building as workers fled into a car park area. Russian online outlets also published images and footage of a large fire at the Elektrostal facility. Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Kim said it had been a “terrible night” for Russia and for the company, and later said the fire at the Kotovsk warehouse had been put out.

A Ukrainian drone also hit an oil depot in Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, causing a fire and prompting evacuations from a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building, Vorobyov said. He said 48 drones were shot down in the Moscow region overnight and described the oil depot strike, caused by a falling drone, as the incident with “the most serious consequences.”

“Firefighters, emergency services, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations continue to work at the scene,” Vorobyov wrote on Telegram. He did not give a detailed account of the damage.

In the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building and caused a brief fire, regional Gov. Alexander Avdeyev said, according to NPR. He said there were no casualties.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across 19 Russian regions, as well as over Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Zelenskyy said the operations were a response to “Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities.” Overnight into Wednesday, 14 people were killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine, the BBC reported.

Ukraine has intensified long-range drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil and gas facilities it says are legitimate targets because Moscow relies on fossil fuel exports to finance its full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022. Kyiv said earlier this month that nearly 43% of Russia’s oil refining capacity had been “disabled,” though the BBC said it had not independently verified that figure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month made a rare admission that fuel shortages had been caused by Ukrainian attacks, and in early July signed a law aimed at boosting supplies to the domestic fuel market.

Wildberries is often described as Russia’s equivalent of Amazon. The merged RWB group, which combines Wildberries with advertising company Russ, was valued by Forbes Russia in 2026 at about $12.6 billion, the BBC reported.