Ukrainian drones destroyed two warehouses of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, overnight on July 18, killing at least 8 people and wounding more than 60 in what is reported as the deadliest Ukrainian strike inside Russia in more than two years. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the facilities supplied “sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment.”
Today, our long-range sanctions worked across three areas on Russian territory, as well as on our temporarily occupied land and at sea. In particular, in response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities, two major logistics facilities… pic.twitter.com/oK87chn24u
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 18, 2026
Tambov regional Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov said 7 night shift workers died and 25 were wounded at the site in Kotovsk, about 220 miles from the Ukrainian border. Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said 37 people were wounded at a second warehouse in Elektrostal, 30 miles east of Moscow, and one of them later died.
Pervyshov said the drones carried warheads designed to cause greater casualties, a claim that has not been independently verified.
Another drone hit an oil depot in nearby Noginsk that Ukraine’s General Staff said fuels the Russian armed forces, forcing the evacuation of a maternity hospital and a residential building, Vorobyov said.
The strikes push Kyiv’s deep-strike campaign, which has concentrated on refineries, tankers, and defense plants, into commercial retail logistics that Ukraine says doubles as a sanctions evasion pipeline.
Russian business outlet The Bell reported Wildberries may have lost 10 to 15% of its warehouse capacity, and Russian media estimates put losses tied to the company and its sellers above $1.3 billion. Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said the fire in Kotovsk was extinguished Saturday morning.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the same overnight wave hit two tankers, floating cranes, a tugboat, and a Svetlyak-class patrol ship near Kerch.
Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert Brovdi said drones have struck 172 Russian shadow fleet vessels in two weeks. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 379 drones over 19 regions.
