Ukrainian forces have continued their campaign of long-range drone strikes on Russian territory, concentrating on logistics hubs and warehouse facilities operated by online retail giant Wildberries. According to the governor of the Moscow region, a drone attack on a facility in the city of Chekhov sparked a fire, resulting in five deaths and ten injuries.
The previous day, a Ukrainian drone strike on a beach in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik killed seven people, including three children. Russian retailer Wildberries has become a primary target for Ukraine’s long-range drones. Kyiv asserts that the company’s logistics network is being used to supply the Russian military with drone components and military hardware.
The commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces confirmed a strike on a Wildberries warehouse near St. Petersburg on social media, stating that over an 18-day period, Ukrainian long-range strike drones had attacked 15 Wildberries facilities, with 13 of them burned down. A senior Ukrainian official described the strikes on the Russian equivalent of "Amazon" as retaliation for Russian attacks on Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private postal service operator.
Russian air defense systems reported intercepting drones in several regions. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched one ballistic missile and 136 attack drones at Ukrainian territory overnight. A food storage facility in the Dnipropetrovsk region was hit, and the city of Sumy was struck by guided aerial bombs, killing two girls and an elderly woman.
International concern is growing over the safety of Black Sea shipping. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing serious alarm over the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on commercial navigation in the Black Sea, reporting that two Turkish civilian vessels had been hit by drones. The ministry warned that the spread of the conflict could have multiple adverse consequences, including for food security. The Black Sea handles approximately 5% of global seaborne oil trade and is a crucial corridor for grain transit.
Meanwhile, civilian casualties in Ukraine continue to rise. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported last month that at least 293 civilians were killed and 1,990 injured in June, making it the deadliest month for civilians since April 2022. The mission’s head noted that the rise in civilian casualties reflects a "worrying escalation trend," with heavy weapons being used in densely populated urban areas. The risk to civilians is described as "not only continuing but growing in scale and complexity." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Ukraine does not target civilians in its attacks.