Saturday 18 / July / 2026
Kyiv: Ukrainian drone attacks have killed seven people and wounded 51 others across Russia, while strikes also hit logistics sites and sparked a fire at an oil depot near Moscow.
Kyiv has intensified its long-range drone campaign against Russian energy, military and logistics infrastructure in an effort to weaken Moscow's ability to sustain its invasion.
Seven night-shift workers were killed and 25 people were injured when drones struck a warehouse operated by Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, in Kotovsk in the Tambov region, Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said on Saturday.
"Seven people working the night shift died at the scene," Pervyshov wrote on Telegram. The town is some 360 kilometres (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
He said Russian air defences had also shot down 28 drones approaching the region and claimed the number of casualties could have been substantially higher.
A second Wildberries warehouse was hit in Elektrostal, around 50 kilometers east of Moscow, injuring 24 people, according to Moscow regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
Wildberries co-founder and CEO Tatyana Kim described it as a "terrible night" for Russia and the company, often described as the Russian equivalent of Amazon. She offered her condolences to the victims' families.
In nearby Noginsk, falling drone debris ignited a fire at an oil depot and injured two people, Vorobyov said.
Authorities evacuated a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building as a precaution. Officials did not immediately provide details of the damage to the oil facility.
A drone also struck a residential building in Vladimir, around 180 kilometers east of Moscow, briefly setting it on fire. Regional Governor Alexander Avdeyev said no one was injured.
Why did Ukraine strike the warehouses?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said long-range strikes had hit two "significant logistical facilities."
Zelenskyy said long-range strikes had been "in response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities."
"These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment," he wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian president also said that Ukrainian forces had carried out operations against targets in the Sea of Azov and Russian-occupied territory.
Russia's Defence Ministry said air defence systems intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across 19 regions, as well as over annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
A Russian attack has struck port infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, killing one person and damaging a foreign-flagged vessel.
The ship, which was sailing under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, was hit during Saturday's attack, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. Three other people were injured.
The strike also damaged port buildings, storage tanks and warehouses, Kiper said.
