Ukraine drone strikes kill five in Russia, hit Wildberries warehouse again

Ukrainian drones struck several Russian regions, killing five people and hitting a Wildberries warehouse. The exchanges underlined the widening reach of cross-border attacks and the mounting toll on civilian infrastructure.

In Short

• Russian air defences claimed intercepting 635 drones over Crimea and two seas
• Separate overnight Russian attacks sent 133 drones towards Ukraine, officials said
• Samara's Wildberries warehouse caught fire around 800 kilometres from the border

Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least five people across Russia and hit industrial sites as well as another warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online marketplace, local officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 635 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, but did not say how many were launched or how many struck targets.

The attacks came as Russia launched 133 drones at Ukraine during the night, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said 24 hit targets. Later on Sunday, separate Russian attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv killed at least two people, local officials said.

In Russia’s Samara region, Ukrainian drones targeted a Wildberries warehouse about 800 kilometres from the Russian-Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. He said a fire broke out but there were no casualties.

Wildberries is often described as Russia’s answer to Amazon. In less than two weeks, Ukraine has struck more than a dozen of the retailer’s depots as part of its aerial campaign. The campaign first hit the company’s sites in Elektrostal, just east of Moscow, and in the Tambov region on July 18. Strikes then followed on facilities across western and southern Russia, as well as Russian-held Crimea. At least nine people have been killed and scores wounded in those attacks.

In the Saratov region, east of Samara, two people were killed when a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building, local governor Roman Busargin said. He said the strikes also damaged civil infrastructure in Engels, where the deaths took place, and in the regional capital, Saratov. Both cities have often been targeted in recent years. Engels has a military airbase, while Saratov is home to a large oil refinery.

Further north, in Bashkortostan, regional governor Radiy Khabirov said air defence had repelled a large-scale drone strike on “industrial facilities” in the city of Ufa. He did not specify what had been struck, but said a blaze was being put out.

In the Udmurt Republic, three civilians were killed and two others were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike, acting regional head Olga Abramova said. She said air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones and “prevented an attempted attack” by Kyiv. Abramova also said a civilian car was damaged, but did not clarify whether drone debris caused it.

In Ukraine, one person was killed on Sunday when a Russian guided bomb hit a residential building in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to local administration head Ivan Fedorov. Another Russian attack later killed one person and set fire to a postal terminal on the outskirts of Kharkiv, regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said.

The latest exchanges left at least five dead in Russia and at least two dead in Ukraine, while also damaging warehouses, industrial sites and other civilian infrastructure on both sides.

With PTI Inputs

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