Ukrainian drone attacks kill warehouse workers at Russia’s largest online retailer

Fires sparked at Moscow oil depot, while Russian attack on Odesa kills one person on board Antigua and ‌Barbuda-registered vessel

Smoke rises from an oil refinery facility following a reported Ukrainian attack in the town of Noginsk outside Moscow on July 18th. Photograph: AFP via Getty
Smoke rises from an oil refinery facility following a reported Ukrainian attack in the town of Noginsk outside Moscow on July 18th. Photograph: AFP via Getty

Waves of Ukrainian drone attacks killed seven warehouse workers in Russia and injured dozens more, while another ‌attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in the wider capital region, ​regional governors said on Saturday.

Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov said 25 people were injured after Ukrainian drones slammed into a warehouse owned by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, ​in the city of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, roughly 475km southeast of Moscow.

“Seven people working the night shift died on ‌the ‌spot,” Pervyshov ​wrote on Telegram, adding that 28 drones were also shot down on approach.

“If they had achieved ⁠their goal, the number ​of civilian casualties could have been ​much higher,” he said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had ‌struck two logistics facilities used by ​Russia to supply components for drone production and navigation equipment. ⁠An oil facility was also ⁠hit, Zelenskiy ​wrote on X.

The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, said 24 people were injured following a drone attack on another Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, a city east of Moscow.

Wildberries co-founder and CEO, Tatyana Kim, said it had been a “terrible night” for Russia and for the company, ‌offering her condolences to ⁠the victims’ families.

In the city of Noginsk, also in the Moscow region, falling drone debris caused a fire ‌to break out at an oil depot, Vorobyov said.

He did not specify the ​damage to the facility, but said two people ​were injured in Noginsk and a nearby maternity hospital had been evacuated.

Russia later launched an ‌attack on Ukraine’s Odesa ​port infrastructure, hitting ​a vessel ⁠under the Antigua and ‌Barbuda ‌flag ​and killing ⁠one ​person, Odesa’s regional ​governor Oleh ‌Kiper said.

Kiper ​said on the ⁠Telegram ⁠app ​that three people were injured, and infrastructure facilities – ‌buildings, ⁠storage tanks, and warehouses – were ‌damaged. – Reuters

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026

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