Ukraine has attacked another warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries in a huge overnight air attack including more than 800 drones, Russian authorities have said.
The Russian Defence Ministry said it had destroyed 822 drones overnight, with 600 directed towards the capital. Moscow does not confirm the total number of drones fired by Kyiv in its daily updates.
The Wildberries site in Podolsk, in the Moscow region, is reportedly the largest owned by the retailer. Images show the vast warehouse completely destroyed, as Kyiv continues its campaign against the so-called ‘Russian Amazon’ which aims to “bring home the war” to ordinary Russians.
Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said an 83-year-old man had been killed, in the drone attack on Moscow.
In Kyiv, at least three people were injured in missile and drone attacks early on Sunday, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The attacks come after Ukraine used flamingo missiles to strike a Russian rocket and space centre in Samara that it says supports Russia's nascent Starlink-style satellite internet network, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
Key Points
- Nato jet downs drone in Romanian airspace
- Seven killed in Russia as Ukraine launches one of its largest aerial attacks of the war
- Ukraine could start hitting Russia with domestic ballistic missiles 'in months'
- Russia says it has taken two villages in eastern Ukraine
Russia claims it has taken two more east Ukrainian villages
08:12 , Arpan Rai
The Russian defence ministry has claimed its forces have taken the village of Pershomarivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, as well as Kudiivka in the northeastern Kharkiv region, state news agency TASS reported.
Mapped: Ukrainian strikes on major Wildberries warehouses
07:57 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine has struck seven of the 10 largest logistics centres belonging to Wildberries – Russia's equivalent of Amazon – in just the last month and a half.
Kyiv says the warehouses are responsible for supplying the Russian military, including with drone components and navigation equipment.
The Institute for the Study of War, which has mapped the strikes below, notes that the campaign is designed to degrade Russia's dual-use logistics network.
Ukraine's Naftogaz says Russia attacked its facilities 13 times in past week
07:32 , Arpan Rai
Russia attacked facilities of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz 13 times in various Ukrainian regions in the past week, the company said this morning.
The attacks focused on production infrastructure, Naftogaz said, adding that operations at some of the facilities have been halted as a result of the attacks, leading to a loss of production volumes.
Ukraine says it targeted Russian airbase
07:23 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine said yesterday that its forces struck Russia's Savasleyka airbase, which houses MiG-31K fighter jets that Moscow uses to launch ballistic missiles against Kyiv.
Ukraine also carried out a missile strike against a key Russian space rocket centre in Samara city which it claimed deploys satellite communications systems for the battlefield.
The rocket centre has been instrumental in developing Soyuz-type launch vehicles, including the Soyuz-2.1b three-stage carrier rocket, Kyiv claimed.
Ukrainian defence manufacturer Fire Point confirmed yesterday that Kyiv used FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles to strike the Progress Space Rocket Centre.
The attacks come amid Kyiv's widely reported anti-ballistic missile interceptor shortage.
Putin says Russia and North Korea to continue cooperation 'in all sectors'
06:53 , Arpan Rai
Russian president Vladimir Putin said his country will continue cooperation with the North in “all the sectors” as he exchanged messages with his counterpart Kim Jong Un.
The exchange was to mark the 81st anniversary of North Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Putin said the two countries' bond was forged as Soviet soldiers fought against Japan, and that cooperation would continue.
In response, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the deepening of ties with Russia in a message to president Vladimir Putin, the state news agency KCNA said on Sunday.
Russia is increasing its attacks on Ukrainian civilians – the West must respond
06:16 , Arpan Rai
Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians are nothing new. But they are getting more sophisticated and threaten to tip the war in Russia’s favour for almost the first time.
The aim is to break, at long last, the remarkable resilience and spirit of the Ukrainian people. The Kremlin hopes that, if it succeeds in that, then not only will Russia have secured an imperial expansion; but the West will have lost a strategic ally which is even more valuable than it was when the conflict began.
Tens of thousands of Russian ballistic missiles have been lobbed at apartment blocks and other targets in Ukraine more or less indiscriminately for six years.
These are mighty weapons, intended to fight Nato’s armies in a third world war, not to pummel undefended Ukrainian towns.
They, and the newer Russian-Iranian drones, have accounted for the great majority of the 16,874 Ukrainian civilians killed (according to the United Nations’ figures) since President Putin’s “special military operation” began in February 2022. That death toll includes 820 children, with 51,173 injured, of which 3,126 are children. The kidnapping and torture of captured Ukrainians adds to the litany of Russian war crimes.
Russia is increasing its attacks on Ukrainian civilians – the West must respond
Ukrainian missile strike kills six in Russia's Belgorod region, official says
05:46 , Arpan Rai
A Ukrainian missile strike killed six people and wounded another four, including a 14-year-old child, in Russia's border Belgorod region, acting governor Alexander Shuvayev said on his Telegram channel.
The attack took place in the early hours this morning.
Ukraine could start hitting Russia with domestic ballistic missiles 'in months'
05:36 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine will be able to start hitting Russia with domestically-produced ballistic missiles within three to six months, the country’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.
Speaking to CBS News, Fedorov said Ukraine has so far relied on long-range drones and cruise missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia, and that its homegrown ballistic missiles will be far harder for Russia to intercept.
He was referring to ballistic missiles being developed by Ukrainian defence manufacturer Fire Point, with a key test-launch being carried out in June.
Watch: Nine injured in Russian attack on Ukraine's Odesa region
05:06 , Arpan Rai
Nato jet downs drone in Romanian airspace
04:34 , Arpan Rai
Romania’s ministry of national defence said on Sunday that a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace.
The drone’s entry into the Nato member’s airspace was detected by surveillance systems at 4.44am, the ministry said, about 24km (14.9 miles) north of the eastern city of Galati near the border with neighboring Moldova. Moldova is a landlocked country between Ukraine and Romania.
A Spanish F-18 aircraft that was performing air policing duties “made radar contact with the target and received engagement approval,” the ministry said. “The drone was safely shot down by the F-18 aircraft at 05.01.”
The ministry later said that drone debris was also reported in the Black Sea around 10am on Sunday, about 1.5km (0.9 miles) from the coastal city of Constanta.
Officials did not specify the drone’s origin.
The incident comes weeks after Romanian pilots shot down three drones over three days as Russia intensified attacks against Ukraine near the border.
Seven killed in Russia as Ukraine launches one of its largest aerial attacks of the war
04:09 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia on Sunday, killing at least seven people in one of Kyiv’s largest aerial attacks of the war.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself.
An 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a private home in the Moscow region, local governor Andrey Vorobyov said. A woman was killed in Belgorod after a civilian bus was struck, officials said.
He also confirmed that a Ukrainian attack had sparked a blaze at a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Podolsk.
A drone attack targeted three towns in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, killing five people, local governor Yury Slyusar said.
The attack, with more than 150 drones, damaged several homes and a railway station and sparked a forest fire.
Russia says it has taken two villages in eastern Ukraine
03:00 , Alex Croft
We’ve heard earlier from Russia's Defence Ministry which said on Sunday that its forces have taken the village of Pershomarivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region
The ministry said that Moscow’s forces have also sezied Kudiivka in the northeastern Kharkiv region, state news agency TASS reported.
Kim Jong Un reaffirms deepening ties with Putin
01:29 , Alex Croft
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed deepening ties with Russia in a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin on the anniversary of Pyongyang's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Earlier, Putin said the bond between Moscow and Pyongyang was forged as Soviet soldiers "fought against Japan", and that cooperation would continue "in all the sectors".
Kim expressed hope for the future of the ties between the two countries that had "carried forward the history of common struggle for justice and precious traditions of friendship", KNCA reported.
North Korea's ties with Russia have deepened after Pyongyang began deploying troops and weapons to support Russia's war against Ukraine.
Russia warns of 'serious damage' to relations with US and Turkey
Monday 17 August 2026 00:00 , Alex Croft
Russia conveyed its concern to the US and Turkey over their upcoming transfer of arms to Ukraine, saying the shipment could cause "serious damage" to relations with the two countries.
Delivering the weapons would cause "serious damage to our bilateral relations with Washington and Ankara", Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"Attempts to use peace-promoting rhetoric while simultaneously supplying weapons to (Ukraine) inevitably erode mutual trust, especially against the backdrop of repeated assurances by Turkish officials that Turkey is avoiding 'lethal' deliveries to Kyiv."
Why Putin is testing Japan’s limits with visit to contested Pacific islands
Sunday 16 August 2026 23:01 , Alex Croft
For a few hours last week, the volcanic island of Iturup became the stage for a confrontation that had been decades in the making.
Vladimir Putin, accompanied by the governor of the Sakhalin region, toured a fish-processing complex, a hospital and a school on the island. For Russia, it was a routine presidential visit to a remote territory. For neighbouring Japan, its symbolism was hard to miss.
Japan, after all, claims the island, which it calls Etorofu, as part of its “Northern Territories”.
Prime minister Sanae Takaichi described Putin’s visit to the island as “absolutely unacceptable” while foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest.
Why Putin is testing Japan’s limits with visit to contested Pacific islands
Ukraine says it targeted Russian airbase
Sunday 16 August 2026 22:00 , Alex Croft
Ukraine said yesterday that its forces struck Russia's Savasleyka airbase, which houses MiG-31K fighter jets that Moscow uses to launch ballistic missiles against Kyiv.
Ukraine also carried out a missile strike against a key Russian space rocket centre in Samara city which it claimed deploys satellite communications systems for the battlefield.
The rocket centre has been instrumental in developing Soyuz-type launch vehicles, including the Soyuz-2.1b three-stage carrier rocket, Kyiv claimed.
Ukrainian defence manufacturer Fire Point confirmed yesterday that Kyiv used FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles to strike the Progress Space Rocket Centre.
The attacks come amid Kyiv's widely reported anti-ballistic missile interceptor shortage.
Romania shoots down drone breaching its airspace
Sunday 16 August 2026 21:01 , Alex Croft
Romania shot down a drone illegally entering its airspace today, marking the fourth time the eastern European country has neutralised an uncrewed aircraft breaching its borders.
Romania's defence ministry did not share details on the origin of the drone, but said its radars detected it entering the country from neighbouring Moldova,
The drone was shot down by a Spanish F-18 fighter jet pilot on a NATO air policing mission.
The jet "made radar contact with the target and received permission to engage it," the defence ministry said, adding that the unmanned vehicle was shot down at 5.01am local time.
British drones used in Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia for first time, says report
Sunday 16 August 2026 20:01 , Alex Croft
Ukrainian forces have used British drones to attack deep inside Russia’s mainland for the first time, according to a report.
In an indication of strengthening military ties between the UK and Kyiv, Ukrainian army sources told The Times that drones made by two British companies have been used in the past six months to attack targets including oil refineries in Volgograd and near Moscow and logistics hubs.
The intensifying drone attacks, which have also targeted transport infrastructure and sites belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, have been crucial in inflicting heavy damage on Moscow’s economy.
Read more:
British drones used in Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia for first time - report
Putin puts RFK Jr’s son Conor on most wanted list for fighting in Ukraine war
Sunday 16 August 2026 19:00 , Alex Croft
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s son Conor has been placed on Russia’s international wanted list for fighting in the Ukraine war, according to Russia’s state media.
The U.S. health secretary’s third child revealed he joined an international group of volunteers to fight against Vladimir Putin’s soldiers in 2022, the year the still-ongoing conflict began. At the time, Kennedy said he wanted to help the Ukrainians following Putin’s illegal invasion and was “willing to die” for the cause.
Four years later, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS, a Moscow court has authorised the 32 year-old Kennedy’s arrest in absentia while accusing him of acting as a mercenary for the Ukrainian army.
Putin puts RFK Jr’s son Conor on most wanted list for fighting in Ukraine war
Russian plot to assassinate Ukrainian-American in Warsaw foiled, Polish PM says
Sunday 16 August 2026 18:02 , Alex Croft
A suspected Russian plot to assassinate a Ukrainian-American in Warsaw was foiled by Polish authorities, according to Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.
The suspect, allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services, was arrested on 7 August.
Police said that he will be in custody for an initial three months.
Tusk said it was the first known attempt by “someone on the orders of Russia” to target a US citizen on the territory of another Nato country.
The target was reportedly a US citizen of Ukrainian origin who was considered “uncomfortable for Putin’s regime”, Tusk said during a press conference.
The operation involved US and Polish intelligence cooperation, Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister overseeing intelligence services, said.
