Ukraine-Russia war live: ‘Eight killed’ in drone strike on warehouse of Russia’s largest online retailer – UK Times

The death toll from Ukrainian strikes on online Russian retailer Wildberries has risen to eight, according to Russian authorities.

They also said around 60 people sustained injuries in the attacks on warehouses in Kotovsk and Elektrostal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions.”

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.

The mood regarding the war in Ukraine has changed in recent months. Ukrainian drones have struck Russian oil infrastructure, causing fuel shortages across Russia. And the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is exuberant about finishing the war from a “position of strength”.

The hope is that an economic crisis in Russia leads to social unrest and political instability, possibly resulting in the collapse of the ruling regime. This would not be an unprecedented event in Russian history. The Soviet Union rapidly unravelled amid economic and political crisis in 1991. But how likely is this scenario for Russia today?

I have travelled to Russia yearly since 2022 and there has been a clear change in the mood, writes Alexander Titov.

You can read his full piece below:

A Ukrainian drone attack has damaged buildings including a kindergarten in Elektrostal, Moscow region, on Saturday morning, according to Russian authorities.

The governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov shared this image following the strike.

Wildberries is Russia’s closest equivalent to Amazon, its largest online retailer with fulfilment centres across the country.

Founded in 2004 by Tatyana Kim, it was sanctioned by Ukraine prior to the start of the full-scale Russian invasion because of its close ties to the Russian government.

Wildberries’ banking arm has been sanctioned by the UK government and the company faces a number of restrictions in the EU.

Kim, formerly Bakalchuk, is Russia’s wealthiest woman, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated personal wealth of $8.1bn.

Wildberries co-founder and CEO, Tatyana Kim, said it had been a “terrible night” for Russia and for the company after two of its warehouses were targeted in Ukrainian drone attacks.

Russian officials say seven warehouse workers were killed and 25 injured in a strike on a Wildberries facility in Kotovsk in the Tambov region, roughly 475km (295 miles) southeast of Moscow.

A separate strike injured 24 at a Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, a city east of Moscow.

Kim said she offered her condolences to the victims’ families.

Following the deadly strike on a warehouse belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer in Kotovsk, officials say another facility was also struck in the Moscow region.

At least 24 people were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on a second Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, a city east of Moscow, according to the governor of ⁠the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Volodymyr Zelensky is taking steps to repair a rift with key ally Poland over his decision to name a ‌Ukrainian army unit in honour of World War Two fighters who killed Poles.

Zelensky ‌chaired a meeting of senior officials on Friday devoted to relations with Poland and pledged to expand investigations into those killings ​by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a pro-independence armed group, and open intelligence files.

Zelensky told the meeting that improved ties were critical in view of Poland’s considerable help to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbour in 2022.

Polish president Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskiy of Poland’s top honour ‌after he announced the naming plan in May.

Zelensky wrote on X after ⁠the meeting: “The ⁠priorities are clear: All of us in Europe need good neighbourly, equal, and mutually beneficial relations built on respect.

“Poland provided significant support to Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and we are grateful to Poland.”

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk welcomed Zelensky’s comments. “We are ready for a serious and ​friendly ​dialogue on the issues that unite us and those ​that divide us today,” Tusk wrote ‌on X.

Russian officials say a Ukrainian drone attack has killed seven people working at a warehouse belonging to a major shopping website.

Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov said 25 people were injured after Ukrainian drones slammed into a warehouse owned by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, in the city of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, roughly 475km (295 miles) southeast of Moscow.

“Seven people working the night shift died on the spot,” Pervyshov wrote on Telegram.

“28 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were shot down on approach. If they had achieved their goal, the number of civilian casualties could have been much higher.”

In a separate incident, the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, said falling drone debris caused a fire to break out at an oil depot in the city of Noginsk.

He did not specify the damage to the facility, but said two people were injured in the city and a nearby maternity hospital had been evacuated.

Russian authorities have detained a blogger who criticised President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine and fined an anti-war politician, as Moscow sends ⁠a warning signal to critics of the Kremlin ahead of September’s parliamentary election.

Although Putin maintains a near-total grip on power, he and the dominant United Russia party are under pressure in the lead-up to the vote as Russia grapples with an economic slowdown and fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries.

The blogger, Ilya Remeslo, was detained on ⁠Friday on suspicion of the offence of spreading false ​information ⁠about the Russian army, the TASS state news agency reported.

Russian news agencies said Remeslo had been detained in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, brought to Moscow and remanded in custody `by a court until September 16. RIA news agency quoted Remeslo’s lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, as saying the ​blogger denied ⁠the charges.

Previously a pro-Kremlin figure, Remeslo published a manifesto that went viral on social media in March entitled “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin”. He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where ‌he spent about a month. TASS said he could receive 10 ‌years in prison if convicted.

Separately, Boris Nadezhdin, a politician who attempted to run against Putin in the 2024 presidential election on an anti-war ticket, was fined 1,000 roubles ($13) for displaying “extremist symbols”. While the amount was symbolic, the case was among a series of steps ⁠against Nadezhdin that could signal more serious consequences if he continues to criticise the government on sensitive issues, including what he described this week as the “completely senseless fratricidal war”.

The 63-year-old, a liberal member of parliament from 1999 to 2003, was designated a week ago as a “foreign agent”, a Soviet-era label carrying connotations of spying that bars him from political office. He was detained and questioned on Monday, and later forbidden to leave Russia. The Kremlin says strict censorship laws are needed to keep Russia united during what it ‌calls an existential confrontation with the West.

Protesters in Kyiv yesterday called for the dismissal of Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, after president Volodymyr Zelensky’s removal of a popular defence minister sparked outrage and demands for a more modern approach to warfare.

Several thousand people gathered outside the presidential office for a second day after Mykhailo Fedorov, a 35-year-old tech wizard who has been partly credited with Ukraine’s recent successes in the war with Russia, was not reappointed in a surprise government reshuffle.

A 27-year-old protester named Andriy, a combat medic who lost his lower limb, came with a cardboard sign saying: “Can not stand. Will not stay silent”.

“Syrskyi had conflicts not only with the defence minister, but also with brigade and corps commanders. If he stays, we will simply be ineffective,” said Andriy, whose brother died on the battlefield.

“We could simply lose this war, we could lose,” he added.

Zelensky provided little explanation for the reshuffle and said he had to step in since the rift between Syrskyi and Fedorov was so deep they won’t sit at one table.