In a significant escalation, Ukrainian forces launched overnight strikes on two Wildberries warehouses, Russia's largest online retailer, and another facility linked to the company near Moscow. The attack in Chekhov, about 69km south of the Kremlin, resulted in at least five deaths and ten injuries, according to local officials, though they did not confirm the site was operated by Wildberries.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, reported that a warehouse caught fire, and an electrical substation and an administration building were also damaged. Two other Wildberries sites in the St Petersburg and Tver regions were confirmed hit. A video verified by Reuters showed a Wildberries warehouse burning with a large plume of dark smoke.
Kyiv claims these depots supply the Russian military, a charge Moscow denies. Russia's defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 320 drones overnight. The strikes come amid a series of Ukrainian attacks on Wildberries facilities, which have been ongoing for weeks.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least four people. In Mykolaiv, an 89-year-old woman was killed and two girls, aged 2 and 12, were among seven injured. In Sumy, a strike on a residential area killed girls aged 5 and 10, and injured four others. Additional attacks injured two in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi and set a food warehouse on fire in Dnipro.
The recent violence follows a drone attack on a beach in Russia's Krasnodar region on Sunday, which killed seven people and injured 58. Social media footage verified by the BBC shows the drone crashing and exploding on the beach as tourists watch. Some Ukrainian Telegram channels claim the drone fell due to electronic warfare, while eyewitnesses reported gunfire before the explosion, suggesting air defenses may have attempted to shoot it down.
The regional governor accused Ukraine of a 'deliberate strike on civilians,' but Ukraine has not commented. Both sides deny targeting civilians deliberately. The conflict continues to intensify, with no end in sight, as each side inflicts casualties on the other.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk