A Ukrainian drone attack struck a warehouse belonging to Russia’s largest e commerce company, Wildberries, near Saint Petersburg in the early hours of Friday, July 24, 2026, triggering a fire and disrupting operations at the city’s airport.
The strike sent thick smoke billowing over parts of Saint Petersburg, according to local officials and an AFP reporter.
Kyiv has intensified its long range drone campaign against Russian energy, military and logistics infrastructure in recent weeks, with Saint Petersburg becoming one of its targets despite being more than 800 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko confirmed that the warehouse, owned by Wildberries, often described as “Russia’s Amazon,” caught fire following the attack.
He said three people sustained injuries in the incident.
The attack marked the third overnight strike on Wildberries facilities within a week. Last weekend, one of the company’s logistics hubs outside Moscow was hit, killing eight night shift workers and destroying the facility.
Following that attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged that the logistics centres were being used to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.
Ukraine has described its campaign as “long range sanctions,” saying the strikes are retaliation for Russia’s continued drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. Kyiv also claims the operations have contributed to fuel shortages and weakened Russia’s ability to finance the war.
Operations at Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport were temporarily suspended during the attack before resuming around 6:00 a.m. local time, with about 50 departing flights affected.
Wildberries confirmed that two of its warehouses in Saint Petersburg had temporarily halted operations but did not disclose further details.
Governor Drozdenko said Russian air defence systems intercepted 59 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russian authorities rarely acknowledge successful Ukrainian strikes, typically reporting only the number of drones intercepted or attributing damage to falling debris.
Both Russia and Ukraine have significantly intensified long range attacks in recent months. Moscow has increased its ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, causing widespread destruction and civilian casualties.
United States President Donald Trump has publicly backed Ukraine’s counter attacks, describing them as “an escalation that can lead to an end” of the conflict.
Efforts by Washington to broker a peace agreement between both countries have largely stalled, while the Kremlin has maintained its demand that Ukraine permanently cede occupied territories and abandon Western military support.
Russia has also warned that continued Ukrainian attacks would strengthen its resolve to continue the war and expand its territorial gains in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The United Nations has reported a sharp rise in civilian casualties in 2026, noting that June was the deadliest month since mid 2022.
The conflict, which began with Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has claimed hundreds of thousands of military personnel and tens of thousands of civilian lives, although neither side has released comprehensive casualty figures.
In the past week, President Zelensky also reshuffled Ukraine’s military leadership, replacing both the defence minister and the commander in chief amid reported divisions over military reform.
AFP
