Seven retail workers were killed on Saturday during coordinated Ukrainian drone attacks hit major retail and energy facilities across western Russia.
The overnight strikes hit two distribution centres owned by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, alongside an oil infrastructure site in the broader Moscow region.
In the city of Kotovsk, located in the Tambov region roughly 295 miles southeast of Moscow, a warehouse came under direct fire during the raid.
Tambov Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov confirmed that 25 people were injured in the facility, whilst air defences intercepted further inbound threats.
“Seven people working the night shift died on the spot,” Mr Pervyshov wrote on the Telegram messaging application. He noted that 28 drones were shot down on approach, adding: “If they had achieved their goal, the number of civilian casualties could have been much higher.”
Further north, a second Wildberries warehouse was hit in Elektrostal, a city situated east of the Russian capital.
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, stated that 24 people sustained injuries during the strike on the Elektrostal distribution hub.
The double strike on the retail giant’s supply chain prompted an immediate response from the organisation’s leadership.
Wildberries co-founder and Chief Executive Tatyana Kim described the incident as a “terrible night” for Russia and for the company, offering her condolences to the victims’ families.
Ukrainian Drone: Kyiv expands target list to Russian logistics facilities
The strikes signal a deliberate shift in Ukraine’s cross-border aerial campaign, moving beyond purely military or energy targets to disrupt dual-use commercial infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Kyiv forces intentionally targeted the sites, identifying them as critical components of the Kremlin’s domestic war economy.
Writing on the social media platform X, Mr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had struck two logistics facilities used by Russia to supply components for drone production and navigation equipment. An oil facility was also hit, he added.
By hitting vast retail distribution networks, Ukrainian planners are exploiting vulnerabilities in hubs that can easily mask the storage, assembly, and transport of electronic components needed for the Russian state’s hardware manufacturing.
Infrastructure damage and civilian evacuations
The wave of strikes also hit Russia’s domestic fuel supply chain, causing widespread disruption and precautionary evacuations in suburban Moscow.
In the city of Noginsk, falling drone debris sparked a significant fire at an oil depot, according to regional authorities.
Mr Vorobyov did not specify the exact extent of the destruction at the fuel site, but confirmed that two people had been injured in the immediate vicinity.
The proximity of the burning energy facility to civilian areas forced emergency services to evacuate a nearby maternity hospital as a safety measure.
