Ukrainian strikes on Russian warehouses kill 8 workers and spark huge fires
Waves of Ukrainian drones pounded e-commerce warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions, killing eight people and causing large fires that blackened the skies with thick smoke for hours.
Kyiv has in recent months intensified its strikes on Russian territory, disrupting the lives of ordinary Russians - strikes it calls retribution for more than four years of bombardments against its territory.
The campaign, which Kyiv calls “long-range sanctions”, has mostly targeted Russia’s oil infrastructure triggering a full-blown fuel crisis in one of the world’s biggest oil-producing countries.
This time, Ukraine struck two key warehouses of Russia’s biggest online retailer Wildberries, killing eight night-shift workers and sparking fires that all but destroyed the facilities.
Around 90 people were wounded in the attacks, authorities said. An empty kindergarten was also hit but no one was hurt.
More than 370 drones were launched toward the Moscow region overnight, according to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X: “In response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities, two major logistics facilities were hit - in the Moscow and Tambov regions,” .
He alleged the centres were used “to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment”.
In Ukraine, Russian strikes killed five people and wounded almost 20 others in regions in the country’s southeast.
But even as the war continued, in big cities across Ukraine, thousands gathered to protest the removal of popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov for a third day in a row.
Just when Ukraine appeared to be gaining momentum on the battlefield, Zelenskyy ordered a surprise government reshuffle that included the dismissal of the young, tech-savvy defence minister, triggering rare wartime protests.
Fighting on the front line has largely stalled, with Ukraine appearing to have slowed Russia’s summer offensive.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have also stalled since Washington has shifted its attention to its war against Iran.
- AFP
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