Ukraine hits Russian retail sites, oil depots in drone offensive

Ukrainian drone attacks struck two major warehouses belonging to Russian retailer Wildberries, alongside an oil depot near Moscow, killing at least nine people. The overnight assaults targeted logistics hubs in Kotovsk, roughly 220 miles from the Ukrainian border, and in Elektrostal, just 30 miles east of the capital.

The strike on the Kotovsk facility killed seven night shift workers and wounded 25 others, according to regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov. A further 37 people were wounded in the Moscow region, where one later died in hospital, Vorobyov reported. Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim confirmed both warehouses caught fire, though the blaze in Kotovsk was extinguished.

President Volodymyr Zelensky framed the strikes as a direct blow to Russia's military supply chain rather than mere civilian commerce. In a Telegram post, he stated the targeted logistical facilities “were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment.” For European policymakers, this reinforces the ongoing challenge of sanction evasion, suggesting Ukraine is taking military action to sever domestic distribution networks for illicit components.

Beyond retail logistics, a drone hit an oil depot in the nearby city of Noginsk, sparking a fire that forced the evacuation of a maternity hospital and a residential building. Ukraine’s general staff said the Noginsk depot directly supplied the Russian armed forces. Additional strikes hit a railway bridge over the Bila River in the occupied Luhansk region, which Ukraine said Russia uses for military logistics.

The offensive also disrupted maritime supply routes, a critical artery for Russian energy exports. Ukrainian forces struck two tankers, two floating cranes and a tugboat in the Black and Azov seas. The military stated these vessels were used to transport oil, fuel and military cargo, while a second Project 10410 Svetlyak patrol ship was hit in Kerch within two days.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across 19 regions, Crimea, and the surrounding seas. The scale of the operation underscores Kyiv's reliance on deep-strike economic warfare. By paralyzing logistics hubs and energy infrastructure well beyond the front lines, Ukraine is aiming to erode the economic foundations of Moscow’s war effort.

Targeting logistics networks embedded in civilian areas carries a high human cost. One person was killed and another wounded in a separate drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region. In the city of Vladimir, a drone hit a residential building and sparked a brief fire, according to regional governor Alexander Avdeyev.