Ukrainian forces continue their aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and targets inside Russia to undermine Moscow's war effort and make the population feel the consequences of the war. An attack with Ukrainian drones on two logistics centers of the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries in Russia has left at least nine dead and more than 60 injured this Saturday.
Two huge warehouses of Wildberries, the main Russian online retailer, were hit by Ukrainian drones during the night, according to Russian authorities: one was in the town of Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, about 360 kilometers (around 220 miles) from the Ukrainian border, and the other in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Moscow.
Seven night shift workers died in the Kotovsk warehouse and another 25 were injured, said the governor of Tambov province, Yevgeny Pervyshov. A total of 37 people were injured in the Moscow region, said Governor Andrei Vorobyov, adding that one more person died later in the hospital.
One more person died and another was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian region of Belgorod on Saturday afternoon, according to local authorities.
Additionally, the governor of the Moscow region reported that a fire broke out "in an oil depot" in the neighboring Noginsk, where two people were injured and a nearby maternity hospital had to be evacuated "for safety reasons." An AFP journalist noted that on Saturday morning there was a dense column of black smoke over this town and several fire trucks heading towards Moscow. The Moscow region has been targeted by over 370 drones during the night, as reported by the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin.
"Most of them were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses while still far away. Sixty-four enemy drones were destroyed as they approached Moscow," the official added on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that "two large logistics facilities have been hit - in the Moscow and Tambov regions, over 500 and nearly 700 kilometers from the front line". He detailed that these centers were used "to supply components subject to sanctions intended for the production of drones and navigation equipment."
According to Zelensky, the country's special operations forces also carried out attacks on targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory. The Ukrainian General Staff mentioned in a statement on Saturday an attack on a fuel depot in Noginsk, which, it said, even supplies the Russian armed forces. It also reported hitting two tankers, two floating cranes, and a tugboat in the Black and Azov Seas, pointing out that the vessels were used to transport oil, fuel, and military cargo.
The army also reported attacking a patrol ship of Project 10410 Svetlyak in Kerch, which it described as the second vessel of that class hit in two days, as well as a railway bridge over the Bila River near Sabivka, in the occupied Luhansk region, which Russia uses for military logistics.