Ukrainian drones struck targets in several places inside Russia on July 29, including an oil refinery and a logistics center belonging to Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, as Kyiv expands its long-range strike campaign aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow to negotiate an end after more than four years of war.
According to Russian and Ukrainian monitoring channels, a Wildberries logistics center in the Ryazan region was hit in what is reported to be at least the 10th attack on facilities belonging to Russia's equivalent to global retail giant Amazon.
The company said in a post on Telegram that it evacuated warehouse employees in accordance with safety procedures. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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Ukraine Hits Another Wildberries Warehouse In Russia
Ukraine's military also confirmed an attack on the Ryazan oil refinery, saying a direct hit on the facility was recorded, triggering a fire on its grounds.
The Rosneft-owned Ryazan refinery is one of Russia's largest, accounting for nearly 5 percent of the country's total oil refining capacity. It has been targeted several times since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022 and suspended operations after a Ukrainian strike on May 15.
Ryazan regional Governor Pavel Malkov reported on July 29 that fires broke out at industrial sites after falling drone debris. He added that 45 drones were shot down over the Ryazan region overnight. Six people were hospitalized, but none suffered life-threatening injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the attacks and said an oil refinery in the Perm region, as well as an export terminal and a military enterprise in the Rostov region, were also targeted in the overnight attack on July 29.
"Russia must feel that every day of this war will only come at a higher cost for it. We need to weaken the aggressor and keep up the pressure to bring an end to this war closer," he wrote in a post on X.
Zelenskyy was in Washington the previous day, where he met with US President Donald Trump and then separately with all of the Senate.
Few details of the discussions with Trump have emerged, with Zelenskyy calling it a "good meeting" while the US leader said "Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well."
Attacks On Wildberries, 'Russia's Amazon'
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have struck several major Wildberries warehouses across multiple Russian regions, as Kyiv claims the company is used to transport military-related goods.
Reported attacks on Wildberries facilities began on July 18 with strikes on sites in the town of Elektrostal, about 60 kilometers east of Moscow, and Kotovsk in the Tambov region. More attacks were reported on July 22 in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk.
On July 24, drones struck Wildberries facilities in the Shushary district of St. Petersburg and in Novosaratovka in the Leningrad region, as well as in Simferopol on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
According to monitoring Telegram channels, a 3PL warehouse in Koledino, Moscow region, caught fire after the July 28 Ukrainian drone attack, while the nearby Wildberries warehouse was reportedly not hit.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Wildberries has begun searching for warehouse space in Kazakhstan and is prepared to lease all available vacant warehouse capacity in the Central Asian country following the recent attacks.
Media reports estimate the Ukrainian drone campaign may have disrupted roughly 10 percent of Wildberries' total warehouse capacity, potentially affecting the retailer's logistics network across Russia.
Wildberries started as an online retailer of apparel from European catalogs. Since then, it has expanded into a marketplace featuring a wide range of products sold by third-party vendors.
The company says that during regular business operations, it processes some 20 million orders daily. Its co-founder, Tatyana Kim, is considered Russia's wealthiest woman with a net worth estimated at $7 billion by Forbes.