A Ukrainian drone attack has killed at least eight people at a Russian warehouse, regional officials said.
Seven of the dead worked at a distribution center in Kotovsk, Tambov region. The eighth death occurred at a similar center in Elekkostal, Moscow region.
The attack was the deadliest Ukrainian attack reported inside Russia in more than two years.
Both of the facilities attacked belonged to Wildberries, a large Russian online retailer. Ukraine claims the facility was used to manufacture drones.
The strike in Tambov left 25 people injured, seven of them seriously, according to the region’s governor, Evgeny Pervishov.
Pervishov claimed that the drones were “equipped with warheads designed to cause more casualties,” adding that 28 were shot down.
In addition to the man who died at the Elektrostal factory, 37 others were injured, eight of them seriously, Moscow Oblast Governor Andrei Vorobyev said.
Ukraine admitted carrying out the attack.
“Two major logistics facilities in the Moscow region and Tambov region, located more than 500 kilometers and nearly 700 kilometers from the front lines, were damaged,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
The facility was used “to supply approved parts for drone manufacturing and navigation equipment.”
“The huge wild berry warehouse, which covers an area of 188,000 square meters, is ablaze and black smoke can be seen for several kilometers,” Ukraine’s military said in a statement.
Video from both sides showed large plumes of gray smoke billowing into the sky.
Wildberries said the fire at the Kotovsk site was extinguished.
Ukraine has focused its long-range drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, factories that make weapons and munitions, and Russian shipping.
President Zelenskiy said that in addition to the warehouse attack, oil facilities were also attacked on Saturday, and additional targets were hit in the Sea of Azov, the gateway to the Black Sea.
In the past two weeks, Ukrainian drones have attacked 172 ships belonging to Russia’s Shadow Fleet in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, according to Robert Brobdy, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Force.
