In the early hours of 18 July, Ukrainian drones struck two major warehouses operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, igniting fires that killed eight workers and injured more than seventy others. Authorities in Moscow and Tambov regions reported that the Elektrostal depot—the company’s largest facility, spanning over 360,000 square metres—produced a smoke plume visible across 5,000 square kilometres. Officials later confirmed that the main blaze had been localised, while debris from a separate drone damaged a kindergarten in the same city. Rescue teams continued to clear rubble and treat victims, with forty people remaining hospitalised, seven in serious condition, according to the health ministry.

Viewed from Kyiv, the strikes mark an expansion of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign against logistics infrastructure supporting the Russian war effort. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the warehouses were used to supply Russian soldiers and to assemble drones, pointing to the availability of body armour, helmets and fibre-optic cables on the platform. Ukrainian military spokespersons presented the operation as a direct response to repeated Russian attacks on civilian logistics centres in Ukraine, notably those operated by Nova Post. Analysts in London note that by hitting commercially vital but lightly defended targets, Ukraine aims to tighten economic pressure on Moscow while undermining the notion of a safe home front—a tactic Zelensky has framed as part of a broader operation to make the war’s costs palpable to ordinary Russians.

Yet the night’s deadliest consequences were compounded by disputed claims of mishandled evacuations. Multiple employee testimonies, disseminated by Russian independent media, alleged that managers in Elektrostal initially prevented workers from fleeing, ordering calm while fires spread, and that automatic gates failed to open, forcing staff to prise open cargo doors and jump from loading bays. One survivor said a team leader left without opening the gates, while others reported that security guards screened evacuees during the blaze. Fire alarms were described as activating only after thick smoke had already filled the building. Wildberries’ press service categorically denied any breach of protocol, insisting that emergency systems functioned automatically and that all exits opened as designed. The company, valued at around €11 billion, has not addressed claims that its sellers will receive no compensation for destroyed inventory—a factor likely to unsettle the thousands of small businesses dependent on its platform.

In response, Russia launched a heavy missile and drone barrage against Kyiv and its region on 20 July, which military officials said struck, among other targets, a sorting centre belonging to Nova Post. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 108 of 125 drones and 17 of 41 missiles, but one civilian was killed and sixteen wounded in the capital, where residential buildings and a metro entrance were damaged. Pro-war Russian Telegram channels then circulated images of a separate oil-depot fire in Stavropol, falsely presenting them as scenes from Kyiv, a disinformation technique highlighted by independent monitors. The episode underscores the evolving tit-for-tat targeting of economic logistics on both sides, and the increasing exposure of civilian infrastructure far from front lines. Investigations into the attacks have been opened under Russia’s terrorism statutes, but no independent assessment of the evacuation procedures had been initiated as of 20 July.