On the night of July 18, Ukraine, according to Russian officials and media reports, carried out a large-scale drone strike on several Russian regions. Among the sites hit were an oil depot and Wildberries warehouses. Preliminary reports say seven people were killed and about 50 were injured.
Moscow’s mayor said 370 drones were headed toward the capital overnight, with most of them allegedly intercepted on the distant approaches. In the Moscow region, 24 people were injured in a strike on a Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, according to the regional governor. Some of the wounded are in serious condition. Two more people were injured in Noginsk, where an oil depot caught fire after the strike. Astra reported that the facility is used for storing, transshipping, loading, and shipping light petroleum products.
In the Tambov region, drones hit a Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk. Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said seven employees were killed and 25 people were injured.
In Vladimir, Governor Aleksandr Avdeyev said a drone struck a residential apartment building. No injuries were reported, but some residents were evacuated.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 379 drones over the country overnight. According to the ministry, they were intercepted over the Tambov, Tver, Pskov, Volgograd, Leningrad, and Vladimir regions, as well as over the Moscow area and the Azov and Black seas.
Wildberries chief Tatyana Kim offered condolences to the families of those killed and said the company would support both the victims’ relatives and those injured.
The company did not say whether sellers whose goods were destroyed or damaged would receive compensation, and the scale of the losses has not been disclosed. Earlier in July, Wildberries updated its public offer agreement: TV Rain reported that the new version removes the marketplace’s liability for compensating goods destroyed by military equipment, including drones. After the attacks on warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions, the Investigative Committee opened criminal cases on terrorism charges, spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.