Ukraine Drone Attack Kills 8 at Russian Retailer Wildberries

A Ukrainian drone attack has killed eight people working at a warehouse belonging to Russia’s major online retailer, Wildberries, according to Russian officials. The attack, which also injured around 60 people, targeted two huge warehouses of Wildberries - one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, roughly 475km southeast of Moscow, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s Security Service destroyed a Russian bomber plane nearly 500 miles inside Russia. The Tu-95 strategic plane was taken out at the Engels air base in Russia’s Saratov Oblast.

Zelensky is facing mounting protests in Kyiv over the removal of a popular defence minister, with thousands gathering to demand the reinstatement of Mykhailo Fedorov, a 35-year-old tech wizard who has been partly credited with Ukraine’s recent successes in the war with Russia.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal off Russia’s Black Sea coast is operating normally, Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on Saturday, after an oil tanker was attacked and damaged by drones. The technological infrastructure is operating normally, and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium is carrying out cargo operations and loading oil onto tankers according to the established schedule.

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.

Kim, formerly Bakalchuk, is Russia’s wealthiest woman, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated personal wealth of $8.1bn. Wildberries’ banking arm has been sanctioned by the UK government, and the company faces a number of restrictions in the EU.