More than three years into a war that has reshaped the boundaries of modern conflict, Ukraine demonstrated on Friday that no corner of Russia lies beyond reach — striking a commercial warehouse in the Ural Mountains, over two thousand kilometers from the front, and forcing the Kremlin to publicly reckon with the vulnerability of its own interior. The attack on a Wildberries distribution center in Ekaterinburg was not merely a logistical blow but a symbolic one, extending the war's geography into Russia's industrial heartland while diplomatic pressure mounted simultaneously from Washington and
Ukraine strikes Russian retail giant 2,000km away as diplomatic pressure mounts
Three people killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine's Brovary district and Dnipropetrovsk region; two killed in Crimea; 800 evacuated from warehouse with no reported injuries.
Ukraine can reach Russia's economic infrastructure, not just soldiers
Mark
Why does a strike on a warehouse 2,000 kilometers away matter so much? It's not a military target.
Mimi
Because it shows Ukraine can reach Russia's economic infrastructure, not just soldiers. Wildberries is how ordinary Russians buy clothes, electronics, everything. Hit enough of those nodes and you disrupt daily life, supply chains, the sense that Moscow can protect its own territory.
Mark
And the 800 people evacuated—was that a close call, or standard procedure?
Mimi
No one was hurt, which suggests either good luck or that Ukraine timed it to minimize casualties. But the evacuation itself is the point. It's disruptive. It forces Russia to divert resources to protect warehouses instead of the front.
Mark
Putin called a security council meeting. Does that mean Russia has a plan to stop this?
Mimi
He said they'd discuss "strengthening protection," but that's vague. How do you defend against drones coming from 2,000 kilometers away? You can't. That's the problem he's facing.
Mark
Meanwhile Zelenskyy is in Serbia trying to peel away a Russian ally. Is that working?
Mimi
Vučić says no—he won't sanction Russia. But Zelenskyy showing up, having dinner, making the case directly—that's its own kind of pressure. It signals that Ukraine isn't isolated, that Europe and the West are coordinating.
Mark
What about the people dying in Brovary and Dnipropetrovsk? Does anyone count those anymore?
Mimi
They're still being counted, still being reported. Three in one district, two in another, a child among them. The war grinds on in both directions. The strikes on Wildberries are strategic; the strikes on Ukrainian towns are punishment.
O Pulso
- Ukrainian drones reached Ekaterinburg — deep in the Ural Mountains — striking a Wildberries warehouse and igniting a fire that forced 800 evacuations, marking one of the war's most distant strikes into Russian territory.
- The attack is part of a sustained campaign against Wildberries depots, with more than a dozen facilities burned in recent weeks, suggesting a deliberate strategy to disrupt Russia's commercial and logistical networks.
- Putin convened Russia's security council in response, acknowledging on television that critical infrastructure needed stronger protection — a rare public admission that Russian soil itself has become contested ground.
- The US Senate passed sweeping energy sanctions on Russia, and the EU reinforced its own 21st sanctions package, while Zelenskyy visited Serbia in an effort to peel one of Moscow's last European allies away from its orbit.
- Russian strikes killed at least five people across Ukraine — including a child near Kyiv — and two civilians died in Crimea after a Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Kerch.
- Inside Russia, the supreme court moved to bar the only registered anti-war party from September's parliamentary elections, signaling deepening suppression of domestic dissent as the war entered its 1,625th day.
More than three years into a war that has reshaped the boundaries of modern conflict, Ukraine demonstrated on Friday that no corner of Russia lies beyond reach — striking a commercial warehouse in the Ural Mountains, over two thousand kilometers from the front, and forcing the Kremlin to publicly reckon with the vulnerability of its own interior. The attack on a Wildberries distribution center in Ekaterinburg was not merely a logistical blow but a symbolic one, extending the war's geography into Russia's industrial heartland while diplomatic pressure mounted simultaneously from Washington and Brussels. As sanctions tightened and Zelenskyy traveled to Belgrade to court one of Moscow's last European sympathizers, the conflict continued to exact its quieter, steadier toll — lives lost in Brovary, Dnipropetrovsk, and Crimea, each death a reminder that the human cost of this war remains stubbornly present on both sides of the front.
On Friday, Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries warehouse in Ekaterinburg, a city nestled in the Ural Mountains more than 2,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The facility caught fire, though the company reported most merchandise survived. Regional governor Denis Pasler confirmed three drones hit the warehouse roof; 800 workers were evacuated without injury. The strike was the latest in a series targeting Wildberries depots — more than a dozen have burned in recent weeks — suggesting a deliberate campaign against Russia's commercial supply chains rather than a one-off provocation.
The reach of the attack carried a message beyond its material damage: that Russia's industrial interior is no longer insulated from the war. Vladimir Putin convened his security council the same day, signaling in televised remarks that protecting critical infrastructure would be discussed — an implicit acknowledgment that the Kremlin had no ready answer for drones originating thousands of kilometers away.
Diplomatic pressure arrived in parallel. The US Senate passed broad energy sanctions targeting Russia and countries purchasing its petroleum, a measure Zelenskyy welcomed as a tool to tighten the economic vise on Moscow. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen framed the vote as proof of what transatlantic coordination could achieve alongside the EU's own 21st sanctions package.
Zelenskyy also traveled to Belgrade for his first official visit to Serbia, meeting President Aleksandar Vučić over dinner to discuss economic ties, EU relations, and security. A Ukrainian official described the trip as an effort to draw Serbia away from Moscow's orbit, though Vučić has consistently refused to impose sanctions on Russia and showed little sign of changing course.
The human toll across Ukraine continued to accumulate. Russian strikes killed three people — including a child — in the Brovary district northeast of Kyiv on Saturday. The day before, attacks on Dnipropetrovsk killed two more and wounded six across nearly fifty separate strikes. In occupied Crimea, a Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Kerch, killing two civilians.
In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz called a national security council meeting after an explosive-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane and a separate midair incident involved an unidentified object. German authorities stopped short of assigning blame, but the interior minister called it a hybrid attack. Russia's embassy dismissed the episode as a fabricated provocation.
Within Russia itself, the supreme court agreed to hear a case that could bar Yabloko — the only registered party opposing the war — from September's parliamentary elections. The suit was brought by a pro-Kremlin nationalist party accusing Yabloko of serving Western interests. Yabloko filed its own defamation claim in response. The legal maneuver reflected the mounting pressure on any remaining domestic dissent as the conflict entered its 1,625th day.
On Friday, Ukrainian drones reached deep into Russia's industrial heartland, striking a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, the country's largest online retailer, in Ekaterinburg—a city in the Ural Mountains more than 2,000 kilometers from the border between the two nations. The attack set the facility ablaze, though the company said most merchandise survived the strike. It was the latest in a series of hits on Wildberries depots over recent weeks, with more than a dozen others burning to the ground. Regional governor Denis Pasler confirmed that three drones struck the warehouse roof. The Kremlin's representative in the region, Artyom Zhoga, reported that 800 people were evacuated from the site with no injuries recorded.
The strike underscores Ukraine's expanding ability to project force far beyond the front lines, targeting the logistics networks that sustain Russian commerce and military supply chains. It comes as diplomatic pressure on Moscow intensifies from multiple directions. The US Senate passed legislation imposing sweeping energy sanctions on Russia, a measure long championed by the late senator Lindsey Graham and now aimed at punishing both Russia and countries purchasing its petroleum. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Senate for the vote, framing it as a tool to tighten the screws on Moscow. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen echoed the sentiment, noting that the sanctions complemented the EU's 21st package against Russia and demonstrated what transatlantic coordination could achieve.
In response, Vladimir Putin convened Russia's security council on Friday. In televised remarks, he signaled that the meeting would address measures to strengthen protection of critical infrastructure, though he offered no specifics about how Russia might defend against attacks originating thousands of kilometers away. The implicit acknowledgment—that Russian territory itself had become a contested space—marked a shift in how the Kremlin publicly discussed the war's scope.
Meanwhile, the human toll continued to mount across Ukraine. Russian strikes on the Brovary district northeast of Kyiv killed three people, including a child, on Saturday, according to Kyiv's regional military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko. On Friday, strikes on the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region killed two more and wounded six amid nearly 50 separate attacks. Two people died near the town of Nikopol, on the western bank of the Dnipro River opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In occupied Crimea, a Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Kerch, killing two civilians, according to the peninsula's Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov. Russia's defense ministry claimed its forces had struck two additional cargo vessels in the Black Sea being used for Ukrainian military purposes.
Diplomatically, Zelenskyy began his first official visit to Serbia on Friday, arriving in Belgrade to meet with President Aleksandar Vučić. The visit represented an attempt to strengthen ties with one of Europe's few remaining countries maintaining close relations with Moscow. Over dinner, the two leaders discussed expanding economic cooperation, EU relations, and security matters. Official talks were scheduled for Saturday at the presidential palace. A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that the trip aimed to "pull the Serbs away from Russia's side," though Vučić has repeatedly insisted that his refusal to sanction Russia will not change.
In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened the national security council to address an explosive-laden drone discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane and a midair collision involving another aircraft with an unidentified object earlier in the week. While German authorities have not assigned blame, the Russian embassy in Berlin claimed the discovery was a "fabricated provocation" designed to implicate Moscow. German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt characterized the incident as a "hybrid attack" signaling a dangerous escalation.
Back in Russia, the supreme court announced it would consider a lawsuit to bar Yabloko, the only officially registered party opposing Moscow's war in Ukraine, from contesting parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The suit was filed by Rodina, a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party whose leader Alexei Zhuravlev accused Yabloko of being a Western-backed movement intent on delegitimizing the elections and Russia itself. Yabloko countered with its own legal action, alleging defamation and vowing to defend its reputation. The move reflected deepening pressure on domestic dissent as the war entered its 1,625th day.
Citações Notáveis
We will discuss expanding economic ties between our countries, relations with the European Union, other areas that can benefit our nations, and security issues.— Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on his visit to Serbia
A hybrid attack that spelled a new level of danger.— German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt, on the drone discovery near a Ukrainian cargo plane
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Leia o original em theguardian.com ↗
War & Conflict