Moscow, July 18 (EFE).- Ukrainian drone strikes hit two major e-commerce warehouses in Russia’s Moscow and Tambov regions overnight, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 60, as Kyiv said the facilities were being used to distribute components for Russian military drones.
According to local authorities, all of the victims were employees of Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce company, often described as the country’s equivalent of Amazon.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted or destroyed 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across about 20 regions and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Warehouses engulfed in flames
The construction materials used in the warehouses, together with the large volume of stored goods, allowed the fires to spread rapidly.
Thick plumes of smoke were visible from as far as 50 km away, with smoke blanketing parts of the surrounding area.
Tambov, located less than 500 km south of Moscow, was the first region to come under attack.
Governor Yevgeny Pervishov said seven people were killed and 25 injured, including eight who were hospitalized in serious condition.
«It can be safely said that this was a planned terrorist attack against the civilian population,» Pervishov wrote on Telegram. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, later accused Ukraine of committing «war crimes.»
Pervishov said the drones carried shrapnel-filled explosives intended to maximize civilian casualties.
«Our air defenses worked. Twenty-eight drones were shot down. Had they reached their targets, the number of civilian casualties would have been much higher,» he said.
Moscow region targeted
Exactly one month after what Russian authorities described as the largest drone attack of the war on Moscow, the surrounding Moscow region came under one of its heaviest bombardments since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said one person was killed in the town of Elektrostal and 37 others were injured, seven of them seriously. He added that drone debris struck a kindergarten but caused no casualties.
The attacks prompted the evacuation of a maternal and child healthcare center, including patients and medical staff, as well as nearby residential buildings.
Wildberries confirmed the drone strikes in a statement, describing the incident as «a terrible night» for the company.
The warehouse in the Moscow region continued to burn hours after the attack, while firefighters had largely brought the blaze in Tambov under control.
Ukrainian drones also struck an oil terminal in Noginsk, about 50 km east of central Moscow, sparking a fire at a facility with 24 fuel storage tanks. Authorities said two people were injured.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said nearly 1,900 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted while approaching the capital over the past week, including 207 in the vicinity of the city.
‘Warehouses supported Russian drone production’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes on logistics facilities located about 500 to 700 km from the front line, saying they were used to supply sanctioned components for Russian drones and navigation systems.
“The aggressor used them to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment. An oil facility was also struck,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“In addition, Ukrainian mid-range strikes engaged targets in the waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, and in our temporarily occupied Crimea.”
Kyiv described the operation as part of its strategy of imposing «long-range sanctions,» a reference to retaliatory strikes against Russian logistics infrastructure.
Ukrainian officials say the campaign mirrors Russian attacks on distribution centers operated by Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private postal company, which Moscow alleges are used to assemble drones.
Nova Poshta recently said one of its largest and most advanced distribution centers was destroyed in a Russian strike.
Drone and missile attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukrainian Black Sea ports, while Ukraine has increasingly targeted oil refineries and military-related infrastructure deep inside Russia and in the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Ukrainian officials say the campaign aims to disrupt Russian logistics and isolate Crimea by land, sea, and air. EFE
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