At least five people were killed and 10 injured when a Ukrainian drone hit a warehouse in Novoselki, a town called Chekhov about 69km south of Moscow, overnight on August 4, 2026. The news came from Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov (BBC). He wrote on Telegram that seven of the 10 injured were in moderate condition and one was in serious condition. Ukrainian media said the warehouse belonged to Wildberries, a huge Russian online shopping company sometimes called the "Russian Amazon."

But that was just one part of a much bigger overnight attack. Ukrainian drones hit at least seven Wildberries warehouses across Russia, including in Moscow, Tambov, Krasnodar, and Stavropol (RFE/RL). Local officials said warehouses were also hit near St Petersburg and in the Tver region. Wildberries confirmed its St Petersburg facility was struck. Authorities in St Petersburg said 33 drones were shot down there (AP). A warehouse in the Samara region, about 800km from the Ukrainian border, was also hit, according to the local governor (Arkansas Online.

Russia's military said it shot down 320 drones overnight (BBC). At the same time, Russia was launching its own attacks on Ukraine. An 89-year-old woman was killed and seven people injured — including a two-year-old and a 12-year-old girl — in a Russian strike on the city of Mykolaiv. Two more people were injured in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, and a food warehouse caught fire in Dnipro (BBC).

This is not the first time Ukraine has gone after Wildberries. Ukraine says these warehouses are used to supply the Russian military with goods, not just everyday shoppers. Russia says that is not true. The attacks have been getting more frequent since mid-July. On July 18, Ukrainian drone attacks killed seven warehouse workers in Russia and started a fire at an oil depot near Moscow (Reuters). On July 29, a Moscow-backed official said two people were killed and five injured in overnight drone strikes (Reuters). Two more Wildberries warehouses were hit around July 30, and both caught fire (Reuters).

Why does the August 4 attack stand out? It hit seven locations spread across a massive area — from Stavropol in the south to Samara in the east to St Petersburg in the north. Picture a goalie in soccer trying to block shots coming from every direction at once. That is what Russia's air defenses were up against. The 320 drones Russia says it shot down, if that number is right, shows how many drones Ukraine sent. But enough got through to kill five people and start fires at several warehouses.

The bigger question is why Ukraine keeps targeting Wildberries. If Ukraine is right that these warehouses help supply the Russian military, then attacking them could slow down the flow of goods to Russian troops. Russia says the warehouses are purely civilian, so the claim is disputed. Either way, people who work at these warehouses are being killed, and that will affect how both countries talk about the war to their own citizens.

Russia is also dealing with security problems inside its own borders. On August 1, a woman carrying a homemade bomb killed at least three people and injured 21 near a restaurant in central Moscow (Reuters). This had nothing to do with the drone attacks, but it adds to the feeling that the capital region is not fully secure.

Where is this heading? Both Ukraine and Russia are attacking each other's infrastructure — the buildings and systems that keep a country running — at a pace much faster than earlier in the war. Each round of attacks seems to reach further and cause more damage than the last.