Ukrainian airstrike kills nine in Luhansk; Kyiv targets Russian logistics

A Ukrainian airstrike killed nine people in Ukraine's eastern, Russian-occupied Luhansk region on Wednesday, according to Leonid Pasechnik, leader of Russia's occupying forces there.

Pasechnik labeled the strike "a war crime," saying it had killed eight people on the spot and that another person, a 20-year-old woman, died of her injuries shortly thereafter.

The bus was said to have been carrying 15 people, with five more reported injured.

With US-brokered peace talks failing to get off the ground and the Kremlin sticking to its maximalist demands before agreeing to end its four-and-a-half-year invasion, Kyiv and Moscow have continued to escalate their air campaigns.

Kyiv again targeted logistics infrastructure on Wednesday, using drones to destroy another Wildberries warehouse, this one in Russia's Tambov region, southeast of Moscow.

Tambov's governor said the 100,000 square-meter (1.1 million square-foot) facility — an area roughly the size of 14 soccer fields — had been "completely destroyed by fire."

Wildberries is Russia's biggest online retailer.

Ukrainian strikes on its facilities not only disrupt the Kremlin's military logistics — Kyiv says Wildberries aids the military war effort — they also strike at Russia's civilian economy and thus touch everyday Russians.

This week, Kyiv expanded its target list to include Russia's number two online retailer, Ozon.

In an analysis of satellite imagery, Reuters news agency estimated that at least 1.9 ​million square meters of warehouse space had been severely damaged in Ukrainian drone attacks on more than 20 Wildberries and Ozon facilities in recent weeks.