MOSCOW: A Ukrainian drone attack on two logistics centres in Russia killed eight people and injured 24, officials said on Saturday, when the Moscow region reported a new wave of drone strikes. Ukraine has been attacking a range of targets in Russia, which Kyiv says is fair retribution for Moscow's more than four years of strikes against its territory. "Seven night-shift employees were killed when enemy UAVs hit a Wildberries logistics centre," said the governor of Tambov region, Evgeny Pervyshov. "According to preliminary information, 24 people were injured" in the attack in the town of Kotovsk, he added.
Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries said its logistics complexes in Kotovsk and Elektrostal, in the Tambov and Moscow regions respectively, came under attack. "The fire that broke out at the facility in Tambov region has been contained," the company said. Firefighters were still in action at Elektrostal, it added. One person was killed and 37 were injured at the Elektrostal warehouse, according to the region's governor, Andrei Vorobyov.
A fire also broke out "at an oil depot in Noginsk", Vorobyov said. Two people were injured and a nearby maternity hospital was evacuated "for safety reasons". A journalist observed thick black smoke rising into the sky above the town on Saturday morning, as well as several fire engines heading there from Moscow.
More than 370 drones were launched toward the Moscow region overnight, the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Saturday. "Most were neutralised by air defence forces at distant approaches. Sixty four enemy UAVs were destroyed on approach to Moscow," Sobyanin wrote on the state-backed MAX platform.
Ukraine is increasingly striking Russian cities far from the border in retaliation for Moscow's daily attacks. "Two major logistics facilities were hit in the Moscow and Tambov regions, more than 500 and nearly 700 kilometres from the front line," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X. He alleged the centres were used "to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment".
In Ukraine, Russian strikes left one person dead and 13 injured. US-led diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have stalled in recent months, as Washington has shifted focus to its war against Iran.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister of North Korea, which supports Russia's war against Ukraine, was due in Moscow on Saturday for talks with her counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, the latter's office said. The Russian foreign ministry said North Korea's Choe Son Hui would "arrive in the Russian Federation on July 18 for an official visit" at Lavrov's invitation. Pyongyang and Moscow have strengthened ties since Russia launched its military offensive against Ukraine in 2022.
The two countries signed a defence agreement when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in 2024. North Korea has sent missiles, munitions and thousands of troops to assist Russia in Ukraine, and analysts say Moscow is sending financial aid, military technology, food and energy to the diplomatically isolated country in return. In April, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to help Russia win its "sacred" war.
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and several other high-ranking officials visited Pyongyang in April for talks on strengthening military ties. Belousov saying Moscow was ready to sign a cooperation plan for the period 2027-2031. South Korea and the European Union have condemned the partnership between the two countries. North Korea's foreign ministry has hit back, saying cooperation with Russia is an "exercise of sovereign rights".
In Ukraine, thousands of people turned out in Kyiv to protest Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky's sacking of his popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a controversial reshuffle. The protesters, many of them carrying the Ukrainian flags and placards expressing support for Fedorov, gathered in the capital for the second day running to protest the decision.
During his barely six months in the post, Fedorov repeatedly clashed with the army's top commander in his efforts to digitise and modernise an army fatigued after four years fighting off the Russian attack. A day after being forced to resign, Fedorov on Thursday accused Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky of dividing the country. He criticised slow bureaucracy and a lack of flexibility, questioning whether Ukraine could defeat Russia with Syrsky in charge of the army. — AFP
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