Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia kill at least 8, wound dozens 

Ukrainian drone attacks in western Russia have killed at least eight people and wounded dozens, according to local officials, as Ukraine and Russia continue to exchange strikes.

Tambov Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov said on Saturday that an attack on Kotovsk struck a warehouse owned by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer.

“Seven night-shift employees were killed when enemy drones struck the Wildberries logistics centre,” Pervyshov wrote on Telegram.

Another 25 people were wounded, including one person in critical condition and six seriously, with most of the injuries caused by shrapnel, he said.

According to the governor, 28 drones had been intercepted. “Had they reached their goal, the number of civilian casualties could have been much higher,” he added.

A separate drone attack in Elektrostal city in the western Moscow region hit another Wildberries warehouse, killing at least one person and wounding 37 people, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram. A number of the injured are in serious condition, he added.

Another drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Noginsk, also in the Moscow region, wounding two people, he said.

Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dmitry Medvedenko said Saturday’s death and injury toll was “the highest” in Ukrainian attacks on Russia “in three years”.

In a statement posted on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two Wildberries warehouses were “significant logistics facilities” used to “ensure the supply of sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment”. He ⁠also said ⁠Ukraine’s medium-range strikes hit targets in the ‌Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

The attacks come as Ukraine seeks to step up a campaign to starve Russia’s front line of energy and weapons, in an attempt to undermine Moscow’s capacity to continue waging a war now in its fifth year.

Meanwhile, a “massive” Russian attack on Odesa city’s port infrastructure killed at least one person, wounded three and damaged facilities, according to Governor Oleh Kipper.

Russia also attacked a vessel flying the Antigua and Barbuda flag, he said.

The latest exchange of attacks comes at the end of a week of political turmoil in Ukraine, after Zelenzkyy on Wednesday abruptly dismissed Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov six months after taking the job.

The 35-year-old had spearheaded the rapid expansion of Ukraine’s drone industry. Fedorov promoted AI-driven drones capable of identifying targets without maintaining communications that Russia could jam, and expanded the use of ground robots to deliver supplies and ammunition and evacuate wounded soldiers.

His dismissal prompted protests in Kyiv and other cities on Thursday and Friday.