Ukraine strikes deep into Russia hitting Wildberries hub and oil sites; Zelenskyy pleads for Patriots after deadly Kyiv attack

Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities

Russian forces continued their air campaign against Ukrainian civilian areas over the weekend. In Kyiv on Saturday, a missile attack killed nine people and wounded more than 30, according to the state emergency service. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescue workers pulled 105 people from damaged and partially destroyed residential buildings, 17 of whom were taken to hospitals. Fires broke out in five districts, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that 18 residential buildings, a school, bridges, roads, and the Lithuanian embassy were damaged.

The attack, like one 48 hours earlier, relied heavily on missiles, cutting the warning time for residents to just minutes. A 38-year-old resident told the Kyiv Independent that explosions were heard almost immediately after the air-raid siren sounded, leaving no time to reach shelter. Zelenskyy said that in the past week alone, Russia attacked 16 of Ukraine's 21 unoccupied regions, firing 1,900 drones, nearly 1,600 bombs, and 144 missiles, damaging more than 1,500 objects including hundreds of homes.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, two glide bombs killed at least two people and wounded 31 by evening, regional military administrator Ivan Fedorov reported on Telegram. Several residential buildings were damaged. In Kherson, a drone strike on a car killed a woman and injured two other occupants, the regional administration said.

Patriot shortage and Zelenskyy's appeal

Zelenskyy issued an urgent plea for more Patriot air-defence systems and interceptor missiles, writing on social media that the world has Patriot missiles and that the decisive factor is whether partners make the political decision to supply the necessary packages. He stated that interceptor missiles must protect people, not gather dust in storage.

The Patriot system is virtually the only one capable of reliably intercepting ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy disclosed that on the night before Saturday, Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down only one of 27 Russian missiles due to the shortage. He warned that this weakness is encouraging Russia to expand its ballistic-missile strikes on the civilian population.

Ukrainian deep strikes inside Russia

Ukraine responded with its own long-range drone attacks across more than a dozen Russian regions. Russia's defence ministry claimed its air defences intercepted and destroyed 635 Ukrainian drones overnight. The strikes reached targets hundreds of kilometres from the front line, including the Saratov region over 700 km from the Ukrainian border, where two people were killed and civilian infrastructure in Saratov and Engels was damaged, according to governor Roman Bussargin.

Ukraine's military said it struck an oil refinery and a military airfield in the Saratov area, causing fires at both facilities. Social media footage purportedly showed flames at the refinery, which has been targeted repeatedly in the past. The Engels airbase is one of Russia's largest, used to launch bomber sorties against Ukrainian cities, and has also been hit before. An oil depot in the western Kaluga region was also targeted.

In the Belgorod border region, three people were killed. A drone attack reached Udmurtia, more than 1,000 km from the front, where regional governor Olga Abramova said three people died. She called the strike monstrous in its senselessness, insisting the victims were definitively not a military target.

This act is monstrous in its senselessness. These people were definitively not a military target.

Wildberries logistics hubs hit again

Ukrainian drones struck a logistics centre of the online retailer Wildberries in the Samara region, the company said, causing a fire. No injuries were reported. Wildberries stated that employees were brought to safety, firefighters were deployed, and logistics were rerouted to other sites to maintain deliveries. A separate strike on a Wildberries warehouse in the Vladimir region also sparked a fire, with the company again reporting no casualties.

Since 18 July, Ukraine has attacked at least a dozen Wildberries warehouses. Kyiv argues that the online retail network is used to supply the Russian military, and the strikes are significantly disrupting Russia's consumer economy.

Stalemate and escalation

Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has now lasted nearly four and a half years. With front lines largely frozen, both sides have intensified their air campaigns. Russia continues to pummel Ukrainian civilian areas with constant aerial attacks, while Ukraine increasingly strikes deep into Russian territory, targeting oil infrastructure, arms factories, and logistics hubs in an effort to force Moscow back to the negotiating table. No diplomatic solution is in sight.