(YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA) – A Ukrainian drone strike has hit a major Wildberries logistics hub in Yekaterinburg, nearly 2,000 kilometres from Ukraine’s border, as part of a sustained campaign to dismantle the Russian war economy. The overnight attack, which set multiple sections of the 158,000 square metre facility ablaze, marks the second attempt on the site in a week.
Footage verified by the press service of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces showed at least seven strikes on the warehouse complex. Analysts suggest Ukrainian forces are likely to return to finish the job, as the facility funnels significant tax revenue to the Kremlin’s war effort.
The attack occurred alongside a naval drone strike on the port of Yalta in occupied Crimea. Point of view footage released by Ukraine’s defence intelligence showed an aquatic drone cruising freely through the harbour before detonating, amid an apparent absence of effective Russian naval defences.
The Unmanned Systems Forces also confirmed a widespread strike campaign across occupied Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Video released by the unit showed direct hits on Russian bases, substations, and air defence systems, with one four and a half minute compilation displaying a succession of targets engulfed in flames.
Ukraine’s Black Sea campaign has reportedly reduced Russian shipping on the Sea of Azov by approximately 90 percent, slashing the number of vessels from 134 to just 14 in a single month. The blockade has strangled a vital agricultural lifeline for Russian cash flows. However, similar success in the Black Sea remains constrained, as Ukraine’s largest partner has reportedly advised against striking foreign flagged ships, which account for the vast majority of Russia’s commercial fleet.
Russia’s economic indicators continue to flash red. Total refined petroleum product exports have dropped 59 per cent since 2024, down to 1.1 million barrels per day, as the seventh largest refinery in Yaroslavl became the latest target of a mass drone barrage. The regional governor claimed all 88 drones were shot down and that only windows were broken, despite widely circulated satellite imagery and video showing multiple fires raging across the facility. An industry expert, the former head of Yukos, recently warned that repeated repairs to these ageing Soviet era refineries make them progressively more fragile and prone to catastrophic failure. Fuel queues have reappeared across the country, from Astrakhan to Yaroslavl.
The banking sector is also facing a dangerous new phase. VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, reported a 34 percent collapse in quarterly profit and is cutting 10 percent of its head office workforce. Its share price has fallen over 92 per cent from its all time high. Sberbank reported a sharp rise in stage three problem loans. Mortgage arrears surged nearly 50 percent, corporate defaults increased 22.6 percent, and project finance defaults jumped 28 per cent. VTB’s recent deal to provide a loan facility worth $162 million (approximately £127 million) for a Moscow office complex to Wildberries is now in doubt, as the logistics giant faces the destruction of its distribution network.
The grain industry is in crisis. Farmers describe the situation as “catastrophic,” with barley prices falling below the cost of production. Export figures buried in Russian media reports reveal an 83 percent year on year drop in July grain shipments, as the Azov blockade and exorbitant fuel costs make logistics unviable. One operator stated that 30 to 40 percent of land may not be sown next season.
The rouble continues its cruel summer, sliding to 83 against the US Dollar, with the currency losing significant value since the start of the season. Domestic life is fraying under the strain. A months long water crisis in Tyumen, where the river has merged with raw sewage and livestock carcasses, has caused residents to flee the city of 700,000. In Kapis, half the city’s garbage trucks have broken down due to poor quality fuel. In occupied Vasylivka district, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukrainians living under Russian control for over four years held signs pleading for water and electricity, a level of impoverishment not seen in civilised nations for hundreds of years.
As domestic decay accelerates, the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing the privatisation of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, continuing a long pattern of looting state assets for the benefit of his inner circle. A recent Levada poll, the only credible independent tracker in Russia, shows support for the war has crashed to its lowest level in a year, with only 50 percent now expressing positive sentiment.
With voluntary recruitment stalling, the government has expanded a nationwide bounty hunting programme to 56 regions, paying mobilisation specialists up to 1 million roubles ($12,000, £9,400, €10,950) for every recruit dragged into a military van. However, data from Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces indicates that even this unit alone is liquidating Russian soldiers faster than the Kremlin can recruit them, with a cumulative deficit of 8,299 personnel since the start of the year.
A new US Senate sanctions package targeting Russia and Iran was debated on the floor, with a final vote expected imminently.
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