Seven logistics workers were killed and dozens of others injured on Saturday following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes that struck an e-commerce warehouse southeast of Moscow and ignited a major blaze at an oil storage facility within the wider capital district, according to local Russian authorities.
The deadliest strike occurred in Kotovsk, a city located in the Tambov region approximately 475 kilometers southeast of the capital. According to Tambov Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov, Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles targeted a sprawling warehouse facility operated by Wildberries, which functions as Russia’s largest digital retail network.
Pervyshov stated via a public announcement that the seven victims were all employees working the facility’s night shift when the impacts occurred, adding that the strikes left 25 other individuals injured. The governor reported that air defense units intercepted 28 incoming drones as they approached the target area, asserting that the civilian casualty toll would have escalated dramatically had the aircraft successfully struck their primary objectives.
In a separate drone wave closer to the capital, Moscow Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported that falling wreckage from a downed drone triggered a fire at a commercial oil depot situated in the city of Noginsk.
While the governor refrained from detailing the structural damage inflicted upon the petroleum storage site, he confirmed that two local residents sustained injuries during the incident. Vorobyov added that as a direct consequence of the nearby explosion and subsequent fire, emergency services were forced to evacuate a neighboring maternity hospital to ensure public safety.
(Reuters)