At least five people were killed and 10 injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on a warehouse in Novoselki, Chekhov — roughly 69km south of the Kremlin — overnight on August 4, 2026, according to Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov (BBC). Vorobyov wrote on Telegram that seven of the 10 injured were in moderate condition and one in serious condition. Ukrainian media reported that the targeted site was linked to Wildberries, the Russian online retailer often dubbed the "Russian Amazon."

The Chekhov strike was part of a coordinated overnight campaign. Ukrainian drones struck at least seven Wildberries logistics hubs across Russia, including facilities in Moscow, Tambov, Krasnodar, and Stavropol (RFE/RL). Local officials confirmed Wildberries warehouses were also hit in the St Petersburg and Tver regions. Wildberries confirmed its St Petersburg facility was struck. Local authorities in St Petersburg and the Leningrad region said 33 drones were shot down during the attacks on warehouses there (AP). A Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, approximately 800km from the Russian-Ukrainian border, was also targeted, according to the local governor (Arkansas Online).

Russia's defence ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 320 drones overnight (BBC). Simultaneously, Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian targets. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said an 89-year-old woman was killed and seven injured — including girls aged two and 12 — in a Russian strike on Mykolaiv. Two people were injured in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, and a food warehouse was set ablaze in Dnipro (BBC).

Kyiv has been striking Wildberries facilities for weeks. Ukraine says the retailer's depots are used to supply the Russian military; Moscow denies the claim. The pattern of attacks has escalated since mid-July. Reuters reported on July 18 that Ukrainian drone attacks killed seven warehouse workers in Russia and sparked a fire at a Moscow region oil depot (Reuters). On July 29, Moscow-backed governor Sergei Aksyonov said two people were killed and five injured in overnight drone strikes (Reuters). Two more Wildberries warehouses were struck around July 30, with fires breaking out at both sites (Reuters).

The August 4 wave differs in geographic breadth. Hitting seven hubs from Stavropol in the south to Samara in the east and St Petersburg in the north constitutes a multi-axis strike package stretching Russian air defence across an enormous surface area. The 320 claimed intercepts, if accurate, indicate both the scale of the Ukrainian sortie and the strain on Russian counter-drone systems. That said, enough drones penetrated to kill five people and ignite fires at multiple logistics nodes, suggesting the interception rate did not fully protect the assets Kyiv was targeting.

The targeting of Wildberries specifically raises a distinct strategic question. If Ukraine's intelligence on dual-use logistics is sound, strikes on commercial retail infrastructure degrade the supply chains that Kyiv alleges feed the military. Moscow's denial keeps the narrative contested, but the operational logic — disrupting rear-area logistics through a civilian-branded network — mirrors established doctrine in deep-strike campaigns. The casualty figures at Chekhov also signal that despite Russian air defence claims, strikes on these facilities are producing lethal outcomes for civilian workers, a dynamic that will pressure both sides' information operations.

Domestic security in Russia remains under strain beyond the drone war. A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed at least three people and injured 21 near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on August 1 (Reuters). That incident, though unrelated to the drone campaign, compounds the sense of vulnerability in the capital region and raises questions about internal security coordination even as the front-line drone war intensifies.

The exchanges overnight on August 4 fit a clear trajectory: Ukraine is deepening its long-range strike campaign against Russian logistics infrastructure, and Russia is responding with strikes on Ukrainian civilian and port infrastructure in kind. Both sides are operating at a tempo that exceeds anything seen in the first years of the war, with each escalation cycle widening the geography of damage.