Seven killed, more than 50 wounded in Ukrainian drone attack on Russian regions

Sappers examine fragments of a Russian air-guided bomb that hit the street during an air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 17, 2026.

| Photo Credit: AP

Seven people were killed, and 51 others were wounded in Russia overnight by Ukrainian drone attacks, Russian officials said on Saturday (July 18, 2026).

Kyiv’s forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia’s major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 km (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 km (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday (July 18, 2026) that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions.”

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Mr. Zelenskyy said.

Seven-night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk, and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said. A total of 24 people were wounded in Elektrostal, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Two more people were wounded in the Moscow region city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, where an oil depot was on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike, Mr. Vorobyov said. A nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution, as well as one residential building, he added.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 km (over 110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Overall, the Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Published - July 18, 2026 05:53 pm IST