Russia, Ukraine expand drone strikes to civilian logistics warehouses

Russia and Ukraine are expanding their drone strikes beyond energy facilities and export supply routes to target civilian logistics warehouses. Both sides have sought to justify the attacks by claiming the other's distribution centers were being used to store military supplies or drone components.

Ukraine struck logistics warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk overnight Wednesday (local time), according to Reuters, AFP and other news agencies. Eight employees were injured in the strikes.

Wildberries is Russia's biggest e-commerce platform, selling European clothing and other goods. Ukraine had already struck the company's logistics facilities with drones on Sunday, killing seven employees — meaning the same company was hit twice within five days.

Russia responded in kind the same day, striking a logistics center belonging to Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private courier company, in Odesa.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it was continuing strikes on Ukrainian ports, vessels and logistics facilities linked to Ukrainian forces, and had hit military-related infrastructure and fuel storage sites at the ports of Chornomorsk and Odesa with drones.

The ministry also said it struck dry cargo ships and bulk carriers heading to the port of Odesa to supply Ukrainian forces, as well as three drone hangars in Odesa and the nearby town of Molodizne.

As the exchanges spread to the warehouses of courier and retail companies, concern is growing that civilian distribution networks are becoming a new target of the war.

The Ukrainian strikes left Wildberries' warehouse processing capacity roughly 10 percent paralyzed, Bloomberg reported. Inventory losses for merchants on the platform are estimated to have reached 170 billion rubles ($2.16 billion). Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that "the government is in close contact with Wildberries," adding that "the situation is difficult, with not only the company but also small and medium-sized enterprises suffering significant losses."

On the front lines, both sides continued their war of nerves, each claiming to have recaptured more territory than the other.

Ukraine's military said Wednesday it had recaptured about 700 square kilometers of territory from Russia so far this year, according to Reuters and other outlets.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on social media ahead of his dismissal that "I did not stay on the defensive — I also went on the offensive." Syrskyi was abruptly dismissed Wednesday amid reports of a falling-out with former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had been pushing defense reforms.

AFP, citing data from the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, reported last month that Ukrainian forces recaptured 120 square kilometers in April and 282 square kilometers in May — figures that account for territory lost to Russian advances during the same periods.

Russia, meanwhile, has continued to emphasize through state media outlets including Tass that it still controls the front lines, releasing daily figures on Ukrainian casualties.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that its forces had seized the village of Volokhovskoye in the Kharkiv region. Russian media, citing domestic military analysts, also claimed that Russian northern battle groups had taken control of 40 square kilometers of territory in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions over the past week.

Analysts have noted a recent expansion of Russian advances in areas including Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast. While Russia has faced difficulties including energy supply instability from Ukraine's long-range drone strikes, the impact has not been significant enough to blunt its frontline offensive.