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Drone strikes on a Wildberries logistics warehouse in Russia's Tambov region killed seven night-shift workers and wounded dozens more early Saturday, regional officials said, as a second Wildberries facility near Moscow and a nearby oil depot were also struck and the capital region faced what officials described as one of its largest drone waves in two years.
Tambov region Gov. Evgeny Pervyshov said on Telegram that drones struck a Wildberries logistics center in the city of Kotovsk overnight into Saturday, killing seven employees working the night shift.
"In the night of July 18, the Ukrainian neo-fascist regime carried out a terrorist attack on Kotovsk. As a result of enemy UAVs hitting the Wildberries logistics center, seven night-shift employees were killed," Pervyshov wrote.
Pervyshov said Russian air defenses shot down 28 drones on approach to the facility and that casualties could have been far higher had those drones reached their target.
In a separate post on Telegram, Pervyshov stated, "I visited the victims of the terrorist attack on the Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk, who are being accommodated at the Tambov Regional Hospital. Currently, three of the 25 injured have been examined and released. Twenty-two people remain hospitalized, seven of whom are in serious condition. The victims include residents of more than just the Tambov Region."
"This is the largest and most inhumane terrorist attack on our region in terms of the number of drones used, the number of casualties, and the cynicism. The enemy deliberately used metal ball-shaped projectiles in the drones, which inflicted maximum casualties on civilians," he added.
Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal case characterizing the strike as an act of terrorism, and prosecutors opened a hotline to provide legal assistance to those affected.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes in a post on X, saying, "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 were hit—in the Moscow and Tambov regions, more than 500 and nearly 700 kilometers from the front line."
"The aggressor used them to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment. An oil facility was also struck. In addition, Ukrainian mid-range strikes engaged targets in the waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea and in our temporarily occupied Crimea," he added.
A second Wildberries logistics facility, in Elektrostal in the Moscow region, was also struck overnight, according to the company and Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov's statement on Telegram.
Vorobyov said 24 people were injured in that attack, some of them seriously.
Wildberries-Russ said in a statement that the fire at its Tambov region facility had been contained, while firefighting crews and emergency services continued working at the Elektrostal site, where both facilities were evacuated.
"In Kotovsk, unfortunately, there are casualties and injuries. We express our condolences to the families of those killed and wish a speedy recovery to the injured. The company will provide the necessary support," Wildberries-Russ said.
Wildberries co-founder and CEO Tatyana Kim separately called it a "terrible night" for Russia and the company, according to Reuters, offering condolences to victims' families.
In nearby Noginsk, also in the Moscow region, falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil depot, according to Vorobyov, who said two people were injured there and that a nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution; he did not specify the extent of damage to the facility.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced on Telegram that more than 370 drones were launched toward the Moscow region starting at 8:30 p.m. Friday, with most neutralized by air defenses at longer range and 64 shot down on approach to the capital itself.
According to calculations by Russian state news agency TASS based on Sobyanin's figures, the attempted attack on Moscow was among the largest in two years, behind only an attack overnight July 6-7 in which air defenses reportedly downed more than 430 drones, 36 of them near Moscow.
Domodedovo Airport in Moscow was operating with coordination restrictions, while Zhukovsky Airport had restrictions on aircraft arrivals and departures, according to Interfax.
Russia's Defense Ministry also announced on its Telegram channel that air defenses shot down 379 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
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