According to AFP, in the early morning of July 24 (local time), Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacked a warehouse of a large Russian e-commerce corporation near St. Petersburg.
At the scene, smoke columns were recorded rising high above high-rise apartment buildings in St. Petersburg, more than 800km from the Ukrainian border.
Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said that a warehouse of Wildberries - Russia's largest e-commerce platform - caught fire after the attack.
According to Mr. Drozdenko, the incident injured 3 people. Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg temporarily stopped operating during the attack and resumed operations at around 6 am (local time). About 50 departing flights were affected.
Wildberries confirmed that 2 warehouses of the company in St. Petersburg have temporarily stopped operating but did not disclose further details.
This is the 3rd time in a week that Wildberries facilities have become targets of UAV attacks by Ukraine.
Last weekend, 8 night shift workers were killed in attacks targeting Wildberries' facilities. One of the company's largest warehouses in the Moscow suburbs was burned down.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused that these facilities are used to supply drone components, guidance equipment and many items serving the Russian army.
In recent days, Ukraine has continuously increased long-range attacks targeting Russian energy, military and logistics facilities in St. Petersburg.
Ukraine believes that the raids are in response to airstrikes by missiles and UAVs that Russia conducts every night against its cities.
On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the country's air defense forces had shot down about 571 Ukrainian UAVs overnight in various areas of Russian territory and the Crimean peninsula.
