At least three people were killed in drone attacks across Russia on Wednesday as Ukraine struck and set fire to a Wildberries warehouse in the central Tambov region, the second time the facility has been targeted since July, as well as an oil refinery further to the east.
Tambov region Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said the blaze “completely” destroyed the Wildberries facility in the city of Kotovsk. One worker sustained a concussion from the blast wave, the governor said initially, only later to add that a second person was injured.
Wildberries said it safely evacuated all of its employees from the warehouse. It did not comment on the extent of the damage to the facility.
Videos and photos shared on social media showed a large column of black smoke rising from the warehouse and spreading across the morning sky in Kotovsk. The smoke cloud was also visible in NASA satellite images.
Local officials asked residents to avoid going outside over the next two days due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk was previously struck on July 18, when Ukraine began its air campaign against the online retailer, which it accuses of helping supply the Russian military. Ukraine has also recently started attacking facilities belonging to Wildberries competitor Ozon.
In the neighboring Lipetsk region, a man and a 14-year-old were killed in a fire sparked by a falling drone. In the southwestern Belgorod region, a woman was killed in a drone attack, local authorities said.
Elsewhere, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Ukraine said it struck and set fire to a Lukoil-operated oil refinery in the town of Kstovo. The facility has been attacked at least twice this year.
“The war must return to where it came from. Ukraine responds to Russian strikes, and we do so in a way that ensures the cost of the war for the aggressor inevitably rises,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
Authorities in Nizhny Novgorod only confirmed that an industrial enterprise in the region was damaged in overnight attacks but did not provide further details.
Reuters contributed reporting.
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