At least eight people were killed and more than 60 others injured in overnight Ukrainian drone attacks across several Russian regions, Russian officials said on Saturday, as Kyiv intensified its long-range strikes targeting infrastructure linked to Moscow’s war effort.
According to Russian authorities, Ukrainian drones struck multiple strategic sites, including warehouses belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, in the Tambov and Moscow regions, as well as an oil depot near Moscow.
One warehouse in Kotovsk, located in the Tambov region about 360 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, caught fire after being hit. Another Wildberries facility in Elektrostal, around 50 kilometres east of Moscow, was also engulfed in flames.
Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim later said the fire at the Kotovsk warehouse had been extinguished. Images circulating on Russian media showed thick plumes of smoke rising from the Elektrostal facility as firefighters battled the blaze.
A Ukrainian drone also struck an oil depot in Noginsk, north of Elektrostal, triggering a fire and prompting the evacuation of a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building, according to Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes in a post on Telegram, saying Ukraine’s long-range forces had targeted two “significant logistical facilities” in the Moscow and Tambov regions.
“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” Zelenskyy said, adding that an oil facility had also been successfully hit.
Tambov Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said seven night-shift workers were killed at the Kotovsk warehouse, while 25 others sustained injuries.
In the Moscow region, 37 people were reported injured. Governor Vorobyov said one of the injured later succumbed to injuries in hospital, taking the overall death toll to eight.
Drone debris also struck a kindergarten building in Elektrostal, causing a fire that was later brought under control, officials said.
In the city of Vladimir, around 180 kilometres east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire. Governor Alexander Avdeyev said there were no casualties in the incident.
Zelenskyy also stated that Ukrainian special operations had carried out strikes on targets in the Sea of Azov and Russian-occupied territories.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed its air defence systems intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across 19 Russian regions, as well as over the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Ukraine has increasingly expanded its long-range drone campaign in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure, logistics hubs and military facilities deep inside Russian territory in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s military operations and supply chains.
