Smoke rises from a fire at Wildberries' logistics complex in Elektrostal, outside Moscow, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone attack on July 18, 2026. (Tatyana Makeyeva / AFP / Getty Images)

 

"Well, starting last Saturday and just about every day since, Ukrainian drones have struck these giant warehouses belonging to Wildberries, causing massive fires to facilities outside of Moscow, outside of St. Petersburg and several cities in the south of Russia."

"The costs have come in lives. At least nine workers are dead, dozens more injured, several of whom were migrant workers from Central Asia. But of course, there's also material costs."

"Wildberries is Russia's largest online retailer. And its warehouses are full of goods from small and mid-size Russian businesses, who have taken to social media to say these attacks have caused their financial ruin."

Charles Maynes, NPR, Moscow  

"Yet another flood of videos from Russians weeping over the ‘shock’ and ‘unfairness’ of strikes on a Wildberries warehouse."

"​It doesn’t cross their minds how unfair it felt when we were just living our lives, bothering no one, in our own country and our own homes, right up until their missiles started tearing our cities apart on a chilly winter morning."

Kateryna Bohuslavska – who posts on X as “Kate from Kharkiv”  

 

"In Russia, official procedures mostly only cover arms procurement."

"So military units and individual soldiers need to buy a lot of things themselves: uniforms, food, gasoline, electric power generators, drones, cars, motorcycles, spare parts… that’s why it is possible to buy goods necessary for warfare on Wildberries." 

Pavel Luzin, senior fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis 

Smoke rises from a Wildberries facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 24 after a Ukrainian drone attack. Reuters verified this social media image by matching building and other details with satellite imagery. The founder of Wildberries also confirmed there was an attack on the facility. (Social media/Reuters)

 

  A fire sending smoke pouring over St. Petersburg early Friday was caused by Ukrainian drones hitting a warehouse for a Russian e-commerce giant. St. Petersburg has been targeted by Kyiv stepping up its long-range drone strikes on Russian energy, military and logistic sites in recent weeks. Retribution for Moscow's nightly drone and missile barrages aimed at Ukrainian cities. Russian strikes at civilian targets throughout Ukraine have aimed at depressing morale of the Ukrainian population, a war crime in and of itself. Russians have never, until recently, had to face the reality that Ukrainians have lived with for over four years.

 

This was not supposed to happen. Russian President Vladimir Putin imagined a swift and easy invasion of a country incapable of defending itself. The Ukrainian response proved otherwise, rising from an initial determination to defend itself against superior numbers and weaponry, to the present where necessity drove Ukraine to invent its own military hardware capable of withstanding Russia's aerial attacks and in good time a counteroffensive to knock Russia's military back from its steady advances, to the point where Ukraine not only held its own, but retook some of its sovereign territory from rapacious Russian occupation.

 

Most recently, Russian forces were put to the test of shooting down 571 Ukrainian drones over a dozen regions, including Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russian annexed in 2014 when it began its revanchist Greater Russia enterprise. More latterly, grey smoke rose into the morning sky over highrise residential buildings in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's hometown, located over 800 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. 

 

A Wildberries warehouse, for Russia's largest online retailer referred to as 'Russia's Amazon" was set on fire following the strike. The third such overnight strike on a Wildberries installation by Ukraine forces over the course of a single week. Eight night shift workers last week were killed at Wildberries sites when one of the company's main warehouses came under attack and burned to the ground, just outside Moscow. 

 

A Wildberries collection point in Moscow. The platform is popular among lower-income Russians and its network of collection points extends into small towns and villages. Photograph: Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters

 

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the facilities were used to "supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment". This bombing campaign is one of "long-range sanctions"; Kyiv adding that the attacks are justified retribution for nightly drones Russia sends along with missile barrages everywhere in Ukraine, targeting its cities since February of 2022 when the ground invasion of Ukraine began.

 

Nationwide fuel shortages have arisen thanks to the campaign, undeniably taking its toll on Russia's financial war account. Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg was forced to suspend flights throughout the attack, disrupting 50 departures. Two of Wildberries warehouses in the city temporarily halted their business operations.  

 

Recent months have seen escalations of long-range strikes by both Russia and Ukraine. Increasing ballistic missile numbers have been fired at Kyiv, killing dozens of residents, while ripping open apartment blocks and destroying neighbourhoods. Leading perhaps to a turnabout in attitude, when U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to back Ukraine's counterattacks on Russia; naming the strikes "an escalation that can lead to an end".

 

June of 2026, according to the United Nations, has seen a surge in civilian deaths; the deadliest month since mid-2022.  

"Russians found out their country is waging a war. The next step is for them to realize who is responsible for all the damage caused to Russia (Putin)."

"Wildberries is no longer just an online marketplace for clothing and household goods. The platform sells weapons, body armor, drones, drone components, and fiber-optics used for drones."

"All of these items are used in the war against Ukraine and help kill Ukrainians. That is why such facilities are legitimate military targets for Ukraine’s Armed Forces."

Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian social media influencer  

Remains of the Wildberries warehouse that burned down after a recent Ukrainian drone attack in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the city of Elektrostal in the Moscow region, Russia July 23, 2026. Photo by Stringer TPX Reuters

 

"[The warehouse attacks added to the pain of small businesses, which in recent years have been] struggling very badly, [while probably causing only] relatively slight [damage to the industry and the economy in general; effectively stagnant, but stable]."

"[It's about] undermining public morale, and getting people to talk much more [about the war and question the Kremlin's actions]."

"[For years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people largely appeared complacent about the fighting.] It was something that was happening a long way off. [But that has changed this year, with regular strikes on oil refineries in parts of Russia leading to the massive fires, and now Wildberries]."

"There is now much more awareness, but there's also much more discussion, and more people are questioning what's going on and why is it happening and the conflict lasting so long. It brings it home."

Chris Weafer, CEO, Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy 

"This [appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces], brings a breath of fresh air and new hope to the struggle of free people for freedom and justice. It is a voice for change that could not be ignored."

"The high expectations of the Ukrainian people must be met with a clear vision for ending the war for independence, a strong team and decisive actions aimed at saving the lives of our soldiers, automating the frontline, delivering asymmetric strikes and crippling the Russian economy."

Mykhailo Fedorov, former Ukraine defence minister 

 

"I offered Mykhailo a prominent position within the government that would enable him to unify the technological sector of our state and ensure its development."

"Our shared wish is one – victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace."

"A significant path has been travelled, the defence of Ukraine continues, and every warrior deserves dignified treatment."

"We have come a long way. The defence of Ukraine continues. And every soldier deserves to be treated with respect."

"I am grateful to Syrskyi and to] every one of our soldiers [fighting on the frontline]." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  

Oleksandr Syrskyi and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 2022.  Metin Aktaş / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file

 

In a sudden move a week ago President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to remove his popular defence minister, his prime minister and several days later the commander-in-chief of his armed forces. Puzzlingly, this at a time when Ukrainian drones are hitting Russian refineries, while Moscow's summer offensive has stalled on most front areas and Ukraine has been restoring some of its sovereign territories.  Relations with Trump have settled down, and Ukraine has been given permission to manufacture its own U.S.-style interceptor missiles.

 

Yet at this signal time in Ukraine's history its president has announced a new "political strategy" through the reshuffling of its major war figures responsible for these successes. Thousand of Ukrainians poured into the streets across the country to protest the removal of  the popular Mykhailo Fedorov, credited as a key architect of Ukraine's advances in a drone warfare breakthrough. With no satisfactory explanation for the removal, Ukrainians fed up with corruption and alert to malfeasance, have campaigned for his reinstatement as minister of defence.

 

On the surface it appears that a generational conflict over how best to wage a modern war should proceed, as well as conflicts over corruption, inclusive of turf battles between the Defence Ministry and the generals, plus a president with a reputed tendency to remove subordinates who become too popular in the public regard, lest they become competitors for his alpha-executive governing position. 

 

With the acute realization that he may have made some awkward decisions that would not be well received not only by the Ukrainian public, but by the White House and Ukraine's NATO allies, Mr. Zelenskyy has been left to scramble in hopes of containing the fallout. It has become clear that deep institutional tensions on command structures in Ukraine which were brewing for months, have led to this crisis in confidence.  

"Probably [Zelensyy] didn't grasp fully how Fedorov has become so closely associated with positive changes."

"And the overall protest morphed into broad debate on war strategy and battlefield management."

Mykola Bielieskov, Kyiv defence analyst  

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov holds a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.  Danylo Antoniuk / Future Publishing via Getty Images

 

The disrupter-style hacks that were championed by younger officials tended to raise the hackles of old-guard battlefield tacticians, Mykhailo Fedorov first among them. Fedorov's innovative approach to the battlefield had won the approval of many officials in NATO, who privately expressed disappointment that Mr. Zelenskyy moved against his continuing in the role of Minister of Defence. 

 

Five consecutive nights saw thousands of noisy protesters outside the president's Kyiv office following Fedorov's dismissal as Minister of Defence, as rallies took place in over a dozen cities.  The public pressure succeeded in having the president reverse course, to fire Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Oleksander Syrsky and to replace him with another reform-minded commander, while offering Fedorov a new high-level government role. 

 

It had been widely rumoured that bad blood in battlefield disagreements between Fedorov and Syrsky led the commander-in-chief to demand that a choice had to be made by Zelenskyy; either Fedorov had to leave or he would. That choice was made, and then reversed under the weight of public censure. 

 

Syrsky's appointment to lead Ukraine's military arrived two years ago, replacing another poplar head of the armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, top commander during the February 2022 Russian invasion. A number of military issues led Zaluzhny to clash with Zelenskyy; the latter's request to mobilize 500,000 new soldiers one of those irritants.  It was likely that political ambitions on Zaluzhny's part finally poisoned their relations.

 

Disagreement between those who believe that drones and robots should drive the war to its winning conclusion as opposed to those who place their trust in conventional infantry and artillery to win the war has the former now feeling vindicated. The military tactics with the use of drones have unquestionably turned the tide of the war in Ukraine's favour. 

 

According to an interpretation by a European diplomat stationed in Kyiv, the turbulence between generational factions, corruption currents and personal egos are all involved. "All three of those reasons are  true. But also Fedorov is a political threat to Zelenskyy; many groups wanted to take him down." 

 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Oleksandr Syrskyi at the handover of drone missiles to the Ukrainian army in Kyiv in December 2024. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA

  

 

"One night in March, a two-person Ukrainian crew established a record  for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by shooting down, in one engagement, 23 Russian Shahed drones with Sting interceptor drones designed by the Ukrainian military technology company Wild Hornets. The story is noteworthy not only for the number of intercepted drones, but also for the operation’s cost efficiency and Ukraine’s interceptor-production capacity behind it."

"A Sting interceptor costs about $2,500. In comparison, a single U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missile that does the same job costs more than $3 million and requires significantly more time and resources to build and operate than a drone. Lockheed Martin produced approximately 600 of the most advanced PAC-3 type of Patriot missiles last year; meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used about 700 of these interceptors in the span of only four winter months in 2025-2026."

"The conflict in the Middle East has further exposed the shortcomings of a high-end, slow-production approach to defense systems. In March 2026, when Iran launched hundreds of Shaheds at Persian Gulf states, countries with the most advanced U.S.-supplied air defense systems outside NATO watched their defense capabilities erode as their interceptor stockpiles drained quickly. The air defense systems worked as intended, yet they were not designed to protect against the intensity and scale of Iran’s attacks."

"Kyiv is building drones in massive quantities out of wartime necessity against Russia’s ongoing full-scale assault, now in its fifth year. A key part of that necessity is Russia’s large-scale use of Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. That Russian campaign has raised serious questions about Iran’s responsibility under international law. In response, Ukraine is rewriting the global rules of air power and air defense, replacing sheer mass and large stockpiles of weapons as key factors in warfare with the benefits of quantity, speed, and the ability to learn faster than the enemy. It is a novel and adaptive, low-cost military-industrial model that is already catching the interest of other countries."

Lesia Bidochko, Just Security

 

Ukrainians train with handheld drones. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

 

"Together we can work on joint production, on making all of the components of the systems work, and provide both defense industrial bases with the impetus needed to step up investments and production [following The European Union and Ukraine's drone deal to merge Ukrainian expertise in unmanned warfare with the continent’s industrial capacity, with the goal of ramping up production of drone and counter-drone systems]."

"In Europe, we already have huge technological and industrial capacity that can be deployed. And we have safe and secure production sites that can help to scale up. But we do not have that battle-tested knowledge and expertise that Ukraine has forged. So the point I am making is that we need to combine our strengths. Together, we can work on joint production."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen 

EU launches Ukraine defence industrial partnership, Drone Deal and disburses €1 billion for drones  EU Neighbours East

 

Kyiv can be credited with many outstanding features in this uneven war imposed upon Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore Greater Russia; among them the courage and intestinal fortitude to counter the full-scale invasion in its fifth year and add to that the determination to win this war, whatever it takes to repel the Russian beast. And nor can its ingenuity in designing new technological weapons of its own manufacture to match anything Russia obtains from the Islamic Republic in this new era of drone warfare, much less its entrepreneurial enterprise in marketing its products and its experience be overlooked.

 

So while Russian drones -- the Iranian Shaheds -- have wrought their weight in deadly measure as a means to kill thousands of soldiers and civilians in Ukraine, countermeasures to Russia's innovative first-person-view vehicles, jet power, fibre-optic tethers and similar innovations have led to Ukraine developing its own versions in countering the Russian military's. EU member-states such as Croatia, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Germany now see their own firms aligning with Ukrainian companies that specialize in first-person-view combat drones.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyer Zelenskyy, pushing the drone deals whenever and wherever he can now realizes a ready market. Where Hezbollah deploys unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Israel, and Iran uses them against several regional countries, a case in point. Kyiv has signed ten-year security agreements with Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the joint U.S.-Israel aerial attacks on the Islamic Republic which led to its missiles and drones hitting its neighbours' U.S. military bases. A proposal, Zelenskyy stated is "also on the table for our American partners".

 

Ukrainian soldiers of the 127th Heavy Mechanized Brigade carry a Heavy Shot UAV across a field on May 8, 2026, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Image

 

"Latvia will adopt Ukraine's unique combat experience in airspace defence against drone attacks." 

"[The deal includes] immediate access to technologies, but most importantly, the immediate arrival of Ukrainian anti-drone combat unit experts in Latvia."

"Our skies can only be protected if we follow Ukraine's example, know-how and experience." 

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kilbergs  

A joint drone production facility is to be built near Latvia's border with Russia. Russia's Eastern Europe neighbours are fully cognizant of the potential danger they are in, following Ukraine's invasion, led by the Russian President's roving eye and territorial acquisitiveness. Kyiv anticipates more military and economic support, in particular American-produced Patriot missiles in short supply, given U.S. forces fighting Iran. Its breakthrough arrived when President Trump stated Kyiv would be allowed to make Patriot missiles itself in Ukraine.

 

"The terms must be beneficial for Ukraine, and the proceeds from exports must strengthen Ukraine's defence", stated President Zelenskyy of plans to release exports of Ukrainian drones. Reliance on early warning systems, radar, electronic warfare, mobile fire groups, helicopters, jet fighters and interceptors encompass Ukraine's anti-drone defences. Interceptors are increasingly being realized as the main line of defence for intercepting drones.

 

Over 100 Ukrainian companies produce interceptors. "We have approximately 15 to 20 very effective interceptors, which are also extensively used at the front", revealed Andrii Hrytseniuk, chief executive of Ukrainian government organization Bravel, providing a platform for the country's defence tech sphere. 

 

A Sting interceptor drone flies during drills at the Yatagan School for Unmanned Aerial Systems in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, Efrem Lukatsky/AP

 

"There is no one single bullet. There is sort of this funny magical thinking that a lot of people are doing in terms of 'hey, just send us all your drones or your interceptors'. "

"And what people are sort of missing is that is, even though there's tech and that's what everybody sees, it's only one piece of everything." 

Deborah Fairlamb, American investor in military technology 

"I said from the beginning that I'm not going to stop. I decided that this is the work of my life."

"The scale of dissatisfaction is colossal. I have the impression that part of the system is already starting to work against Putin ... It's essentially ... similar to what happened at the end of the Soviet Union, when people hated the [Communist] Party and did everything for it to end. Putin's Russia will follow the same path as the Soviet Union. Everything is being repeated."

"A very big battle for power is going on. The FSB and the administration are very much in conflict. Putin does not have a single fist which only works for him. they are all working against each other."

Ilya Remeslo, Kremlin attack lawyer, propagandist 

 

"There is an absolutely clear conflict between the presidential administration and the second directorate of the FSB. These guys have gotten a lot of authority and have started tightening the screws very strongly."

"The presidential administration is trying to somehow let Putin know the lid could blow off the can."

"In Moscow, Khamenei's killing was seen as the Americans using internet technology for remote surveillance and since the Russian network is open for this type of remote surveillance they got worried."

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former Russian oil tycoon, leading Russian opposition figure

 

"Kiriyenko and  his team are trying to convince Putin that he can keep control of the situation in the country through political technologies."

"And the second service of the FSB is trying to convince Putin that the only way to stabilize the situation in the country is through brutal methods and through tightening the screws."

Anonymous insider

 

"Everywhere we can see chaos on management processes."

"Relations toward Putin are changing. Economic optimism and the everyday patriotism connected to it are disappearing."

"Finally, the impossibility of winning a war -- which has changed and reduced Russia's advantages to a minimum -- is recognized."

"It's as if the content of the air has changed in Russia."

Alexander Baunov, political analyst, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center

In recent months, Russia’s Federal Protective Service, which guards top officials, has sharply tightened security around Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/AFP/Getty Images

 

The deteriorating Russian economy, and repressive restrictions including limits on internet access are heralding cracks within the Russian elite over Putin's war against Ukraine. A broad division is being scented in the upper echelons of Kremlin power. Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating fell to its lowest level yet in recent weeks since his 'special military operation' in Ukraine went into effect with a full-scale invasion. This, according to VCIOM, state-controlled polling firm. And other voices speaking against the government.

 

Moscow planned its annual Victory Day parade to be a more modest affair this year. It would not be the full-scale military extravaganza of previous years, but a fully scaled-down version. Caused by the fear of Ukraine targeting the event with Ukrainian drone attacks. Which was also cited as the reason for mandated internet rules bearing in mind that revelations hosted there have the potential of arming Ukraine with data better kept under wraps. The state of the economy lurks as another grating issue; a full-scale war and related sanctions matter.

Russia's Su-25 jet aircraft release smoke in the colours of the Russian state flag while flying towards the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower during a flypast rehearsal for a military parade, which marks the 81st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

 

An internal conflict is cited by Kremlin watchers between a faction in the Putin administration led by Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy Kremlin chief, and the Federal Security Service, of which Putin famously is  an alumni. The clampdown on internet access in the fear it could be used to target Putin and mobilize antigovernment opposition is a child of the security services, whereas the restrictions are viewed by some political advisers to Putin as the cause of antigovernment rage by digitalized Russian society.

 

In Russia "it is already impossible to ban something", a statement felt to refer to the internet rules, expressed by Sergei Novikov, head of the Kremlin department for social projects, at a conference on demographics. While drones, sent courtesy of Ukrainian counteroffensives reach deeper into Russian territory setting oil refineries and terminals on fire -- this week hitting a highrise building not far from the Kremlin, public anxiety is on the rise even as their president looks to increase his own personal security.

 

The Financial Times, CNN and the independent Russian investigative outlet IStories reported a European intelligence agency report that the FSO, Putin's Federal Protection Service has boosted security protocols around the presence n evident concern that the Russian president could be targeted in a drone attack. Not precluding by members of Russia's own disgruntled elite. Bringing to mind the tense situation that ensued in 2023 with the aborted mutiny led by Yevgeniy Rigozhin, late leader of the Wagner mercenaries.

 

Security checks have been tightened by the FSO on Putin visitors. Staff working around Vladimir Putin may no longer use mobile phones or any devices connected to the internet. They are banned from using public transport as well, according to the European intelligence report. Mr. Putin has taken increasingly to administering Russia's affairs from a remote system of underground bunkers. Putin's security fears have led to the periodic shutdown of communications systems in Moscow. No doubt the assassination of senor Russian General Fanil Sarvarov gave Putin heart palpitations, when security measures failed.

 

The new measures followed the assassination of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, most likely by Ukraine.   Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters

 

"I understood that this is not the president I voted for. It's not a person who is brave or courageous. It's a completely different person who just fears a real opponent who represents a threat to him." 

"It was necessary to try and stop him. It was necessary to speak against him. I decided that if I do it other people would see and it would lead other people to speak too. Because I know that people around me -- people from the administration -- they think exactly the same."

"In the administration there are good people. They snicker at Putin and say he is very primitive and that he is doing everything to lead the country into an abyss."

"Of course, publicly they are scared to say this. Because of course they will be put in jail and all their assets will be taken."

"Putin will be toppled at some moment by his own circle when he stops being convenient for them completely. This is the result that is awaiting him." 

Ilya Remeslo 

A portrait of a soldier from the "Taifun" unmanned aerial vehicle unit holding a new model 'Marsianin' attack drone in Ukraine. (Getty)