Ukraine launches one of its biggest strikes on Russia this year, targeting Wildberries warehouses and a missile plant

Russia’s air defenses shot down 571 Ukrainian drones overnight on July 24 over 15 regions of Russia, occupied Crimea, and the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, the Defense Ministry reported.

Ukraine’s attack was one of the largest of the year, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. TASS put the year’s biggest strike at June 26, when the Defense Ministry reported destroying 660 drones overnight.

The total number of Ukrainian drones that targeted Russia on June 26 and July 24 remains unknown. The Defense Ministry only reports how many it shoots down.

For the fourth time this week, Ukraine’s attack included warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace

Large fires broke out in the company’s logistics complex buildings in Shushary (St. Petersburg) and the Utkina Zavod industrial zone (Leningrad region) after the drone strike. The facilities have suspended operations, and a criminal case has been opened on charges of a terrorist attack. Firefighting helicopters are battling the blazes.

The strike on the Leningrad region warehouse injured several people, regional authorities said, putting the number at three. The Investigative Committee, Russia’s federal investigating authority, confirmed there were injuries but said the exact number was still being determined. Wildberries claimed that, according to preliminary information, no one was hurt at its warehouses in St. Petersburg or Leningrad region because employees had been evacuated in advance.

Two other warehouses in the Utkina Zavod industrial zone also caught fire, the independent Telegram channel Astra reported, citing photos and videos from eyewitnesses. One of the burning buildings houses a distribution center belonging to the “Petrovich” construction and trade company, while the owner of the second warehouse was not specified.

Local authorities said a warehouse at the “Severnaya” poultry farm collapsed in the village of Sinyavino, in the Leningrad region’s Kirovsky district, after a Ukrainian drone strike. The village lies near Lake Ladoga, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Wildberries warehouse.

A Wildberries sorting center in occupied Simferopol was also hit, and eyewitness photos and videos show a fire broke out there. The company initially said the sorting center “was evacuated in accordance with safety requirements.” Wildberries head Tatyana Kim later confirmed the attack, saying that strikes on the logistics complexes in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region, and Simferopol saved only some of the floor space and goods, and that employees underwent an “expedited evacuation.”

Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels also reported a strike on a Wildberries warehouse in Tver, though the company did not confirm the attack. Tver Governor Vitaly Korolev said a fire broke out in “the administrative building of a logistics center” in the settlement of Elevator while “repelling a drone attack.” Publicly available information shows no Wildberries warehouse in that settlement, only a pickup point. The fire has since been extinguished, and no one was injured.

Ukraine has not commented on the latest strikes. During earlier attacks on Wildberries warehouses, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were targeting logistics centers that supply the Russian military with drone components, navigation equipment, and other gear.

Ukraine strikes a missile manufacturer in Kirov

Residents of Kirov said there were explosions and a fire in the city. Astra and the Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+, citing eyewitness photos and videos, reported that the Ukrainian strike hit the Avitek plant (JSC Vyatka Machine-Building Enterprise Avitek).

Publicly available information indicates the plant produces both military and civilian goods, including aircraft components, which Avitek makes. Ukraine claims the plant also produces surface-to-air guided missiles and target missiles, and works with other factories to manufacture “Tor” surface-to-air missile systems, Kh-101 missiles, and other military equipment. The plant is under sanctions from the U.S. and a number of other countries.

Local authorities confirmed Ukraine carried out a missile strike on the plant in Kirov, though Kirov Governor Alexander Sokolov did not specify which enterprise was hit. The attack injured people, though the exact number has not been specified.

The aftermath of Ukraine’s strike on Wildberries warehouses in St. Petersburg.