Drones and missiles cross the border between Russia and Ukraine with increasing intensity. Russian anti-aircraft defenses had to intercept 600 Ukrainian unmanned aircraft heading towards Moscow on the night of Saturday to Sunday. It was one of the largest offensives by these mills in almost four and a half years of war against the Russian capital and the surrounding region.
Russian authorities reported the deaths of at least seven civilians, most of them in Rostov Oblast, a region in southern Russia that borders Donbass, a Ukrainian region largely occupied by Russia. The Ukrainian authorities reported, for their part, the death of five people: two in Krivi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the province of Dnipropetrovsk (center-east), two in the province of Zaporizhia (south) and one in Sumi province (northeast).
In total, Russian forces shot down 822 Ukrainian drones in 16 regions of the country plus the annexed Crimean peninsula. Andrei Vorobyov, governor of Moscow Province, said that the major offensive cost the life of an 83-year-old man, and assured that there were injuries in the area of the city of Podolsk.
A warehouse belonging to Wildberries, the largest Russian e-commerce company, was hit. A fire broke out at the facilities, located in the town of Kolédino, near Podoslk and about 45 kilometers from Moscow. This is the largest Wildberries warehouse in Russia, with 200,000 square meters of area.
Ukraine has been attacking the logistics centers of Wildberries, known as “the Russian Amazon,” for a month. Although it accuses the company of being used for the trade of military material, the fact that the drones have put it in its sights is part of Kyiv's strategy of trying to damage Russia's economic infrastructure, and thus hinder the Kremlin's military plans in Ukrainian territory. But at the same time it makes the Russian population also feel the blows of the war.
Vorobiov also denounced that the Ukrainian drones hit a medicine warehouse in Domodedovo, a city close to the airport of the same name, one of the four in Moscow. And he added that this attack was “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory” in his region. According to Sergei Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow, from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning Russian defenses intercepted 600 Ukrainian drones heading in the direction of the Russian capital.
In Rostov, its governor, Yuri Sliúsar, lamented the death of five people in a night bombing with fixed-wing drones and missiles that caused damage to private homes, infrastructure and factories. Anti-aircraft defenses shot down 150 drones.
According to the Ukrainian army, in its attacks on Rostov it managed to hit a missile fuel production plant.
In Belgorod, the regional governor, Alexander Shuvayev, accused Kyiv of terrorism after a bus of workers from a local company was hit. One of them died and nine were injured.
In Ukraine, the Russian night attack hit the ArcelorMittal plant, one of the country's largest steel producers, in Krivi Rih. As a result, two people were killed and 14 injured.
The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was also hit by Russian projectiles and drones. A popular open-air book market in Pochaina, known for selling rare and antiquarian volumes, was damaged.
Zelensky said in a message on social media that “the Russians attack civilian infrastructure wherever they can reach with their ballistic missiles.” The comment earned him a renewed call for his allies to provide Ukraine with more anti-aircraft defenses. Kyiv has repeatedly said it is short of projectiles for the Patriot systems, needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles. According to Zelensky, in the last week Russia has launched “more than 1,550 attack drones, almost 1,560 guided aerial bombs and 62 missiles” against Ukrainian cities.
According to Russian authorities, at least 201 civilians were killed in July due to Ukrainian attacks, mostly using drones, against Russian territory and Ukrainian regions controlled by Moscow.
Meanwhile, the independent Russian group Conflict Intelligence Team put the number of civilian victims on both sides at 634 last month, of which two-thirds would be Ukrainian citizens.
The war has also intensified in recent weeks in Black Sea waters, with cross attacks on enemy ports and ships. Due to the impact on grain exports, according to international media, Ukraine proposed through Türkiye a truce in this maritime war. Russia rejected it. “We see no indication that the situation is improving and, therefore, we see no reason to adopt half-measures that will simply give the Kyiv regime a temporary respite,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday.
This Sunday the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its army had attacked terminals and ships in the Ukrainian port of Odessa, in what it described as "port infrastructure and ships operating in the interests of the Ukrainian army." In the bombardment, three merchant ships and two oil tankers that were supposedly carrying military equipment and fuel for the enemy army were hit, according to Moscow. In addition, a ship carrying Western weapons in waters east of the port of Odessa was also destroyed.
