Russia and Ukraine Exchange Deadliest Strikes: Drones, Glide Bombs, and Casualties

A drone sparked a fire at another major retailer’s warehouses in Russia on Tuesday as Ukraine ramps up its attacks on key Russian businesses in a bid to bring the war home to Moscow.

Lenta, one of Russia’s largest food retailers, said that a drone fell on its distribution centre in Leningrad, northern Russia, injuring at least one person. The company said that the blaze had since been extinguished.

Earlier today, a warehouse run by Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries in Tver region was reportedly damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack. No workers ⁠were injured and emergency services were working at the ‌scene, regional governor Vitaly ​Korolyov ‌said.

And officials in St Petersburg said on Tuesday that another warehouse was struck and five people were killed. It was unclear who operated the facility.

Wildberries warehouses in Russia have become a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks in recent months. On Tuesday, it was announced that the company would look to build its new warehouses in Kazakhstan early next year as Ukrainian drones target the company's logistics network inside Russia.

Russian planes fire a salvo of glide bombs at Zaporizhzhia, killing 1 and wounding dozens

Russian planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs in a span of 90 minutes on residential districts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, regional chief Ivan Fedorov said Monday.

Russia has used glide bombs to smash Ukrainian towns and cities since it invaded its neighbor more than four years ago. The weapons are Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with guidance systems and can carry up to 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of explosives, leaving huge craters. Ukraine has no effective countermeasures against them.

The Sunday evening onslaught on Zaporizhzhia killed a 71-year-old woman and wounded 31 people, including a 16-year-old girl, as the bombs damaged 22 apartment buildings in four districts of the city, Fedorov said.

E-commerce giant Wildberries to expand warehouse capacity in Kazakhstan amid Ukrainian strikes in Russia

The Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries is set to construct another 260,000 square metres of warehouse capacity in Kazakshtan in the coming months.

That’s according to Kazakhstan’s trade minister, via Russian news agency TASS.

Wildberries warehouses across Russia have endured repeated strikes from Ukraine in recent months as Kyiv aims to bring the war home to Moscow by targeting its economy.

The new capacity is set to be commissioned in Q1 of next year, according to the trade minister.

The announcement came as Ukrainian drones struck another warehouse run by Wildberries in Russia’s Tver region, according to the acting regional governor.

No workers were injured and emergency services were working at the scene, Vitaly Korolyov said.

Zelensky dismisses Ukraine's ambassador to US

President Volodymyr ​Zelensky dismissed Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a decree published yesterday.

Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had been expected for several weeks.

Her departure coincides with a shake-up in recent weeks ⁠of top officials, including the ​replacement ⁠of the prime minister and defence minister.

A reshuffle of Ukraine's diplomatic ⁠and ambassadorial appointments is also expected.

Stefanishyna, writing on Facebook, said the decision to leave her post was "my own decision, driven by personal circumstances... " and said she had accomplished much during her time in the post.

“We boosted the supply of American weapons and maintained support right when the political ⁠climate in Washington was changing and not in our favour,” she wrote.

Russia says Ukrainian drone attack on holiday-makers killed seven

At least seven people, including three children, were killed and 40 injured at Russia's Black Sea holiday resort of Gelendzhik, in what Moscow claimed was a deliberate Ukrainian drone attack on civilians.

Social media videos, verified by Reuters, showed what appears to be a drone slamming into a busy beach area near the town of Gelendzhik, accompanied by a loud explosion.

It was unclear from the footage whether the drone was intercepted before hitting the beach. Ukraine has not issued a statement on the attack, but its military has repeatedly said it does not deliberately target civilians.

Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region ​where ⁠Gelendzhik is located, called what ‌had happened a tragedy.

The health ministry said that 21 people, including three children, had been rushed to hospital and that nine people were in a serious condition.

“What happened today was a deliberate attack by the Kyiv regime on the civilian population, which has no connection whatsoever to military infrastructure,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region which includes the resort, said in a statement on Telegram.

A specialist medical disaster team had been dispatched to the scene of the explosion at the holiday village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, part of the ⁠wider Gelendzhik resort area, local authorities said.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was cited by the TASS state news agency as accusing Ukraine of resorting to terrorism.

Glide bombs, missiles and drones: Russia and Ukraine exchange attacks killing 12

At least 12 people were killed in separate attacks in Ukraine and Russia yesterday as the two sides exchanged deadly strikes.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 181 long-range strike drones overnight from Sunday to Monday, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said air defences jammed and intercepted 163 drones, but 14 caused damage at 13 locations.

Here’s a look at all the attacks spanning 24 hours:

• Russian planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs in a span of 90 minutes on residential districts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, regional chief Ivan Fedorov said on Monday..

• Seven people were killed by Ukrainian drone debris in Arkhipo-Osipovka, a small town on Russia’s Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar region, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said, adding that 40 others were wounded..

• Three other people were killed and two were wounded in Ukraine's overnight attack on the illegally annexed Crimea, said the peninsula’s Russian-installed head, Sergei Aksyonov but gave no details.

Ukraine's former military chief says country has no chance of joining Nato

Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi has said there is no prospect of the war-hit nation joining Nato.

Speaking at a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors yesterday, the decorated former war chief and now ambassador to the UK said that Ukraine in no way met ⁠the military standards needed to join the alliance.

“I know Nato really well. For about 12 years I ⁠personally worked on making sure we met Nato standards, and every ​year I heard tales about ‌how we would join ‌Nato any day now,” a news report quoted him as telling the ‌meeting.

“Unfortunately, we will never actually join.”

The former commander-in-chief, who was dismissed from his role after his differences with Volodymyr Zelensky became public, said it was “impossible with the level of development that the armed forces of Ukraine have… to join an organisation guided by World War 2 doctrines”.

Wildberries facility among warehouses hit by Ukraine overnight, Russia says

A warehouse run by Russian online retailer Wildberries in Russia's Tver region was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, the acting regional governor said this morning.

No workers ⁠were injured and emergency services were working at the ‌scene, Vitaly ​Korolyov ‌said.

This is the second warehouse facility attacked in the span of few hours in Russia. Earlier, officials in St Petersburg said a warehouse was attacked and five people were killed but they did not mention if it was a Wildberries facility.

Russia says it destroyed 320 Ukrainian drones overnight

Russian forces have ⁠brought ‌down ‌or ‌destroyed ⁠320 Ukrainian drones overnight ‌over ​19 ‌different ⁠regions, its defence ministry announced this morning.

Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences say they downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites are hit.

The major attack overnight killed six people and injured nine, as they damaged warehouses near the cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, governors said.

Of these, five people were killed in the attack on a warehouse facility and one in the border region of Belgorod.

Iran cancels plans to attack Ukraine after Kyiv apologises

The Iranian military has cancelled its planned strikes on three sites in Ukraine after an apology from Kyiv, a senior advisor to Iran’s leadership said.

Iran said an attack in the Caspian Sea in late July resulted in an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi had vowed that the Ukrainian ⁠attack on an Iranian commercial vessel "cannot go unanswered".

However, Mohsen Rezaei told Iranian state broadcaster PressTV that Tehran had planned to hit back and vowed to avenge an attack on its merchant vessel.

“We were set to strike three sites in Ukraine, but canceled the attack following Ukraine's apology," he said.