Russia Pounds Zaporizhzhia With Glide Bombs as Ukrainian Drones Kill Nine in Russia

Russia unleashed one of its heaviest aerial assaults on southern Ukraine, dropping eight glide bombs on Zaporizhzhia within 90 minutes, before Ukraine responded with one of its largest long range drone attacks deep inside Russia, killing at least nine people and setting multiple Wildberries warehouses ablaze.

The Russian bombardment killed a 71 year old woman, injured 31 people, including children, and damaged 22 apartment buildings across four districts of Zaporizhzhia. Another strike killed one person in Kharkiv after hitting a postal terminal, while attacks in Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions caused additional casualties. Ukraine said Russia launched 181 drones, with 163 intercepted, but warned it still lacks effective air defence systems capable of stopping glide bombs launched from aircraft beyond interception range. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again urged allies to supply more Patriot air defence systems.

Ukraine later launched a massive drone barrage targeting military, industrial and logistics facilities across Russia. Moscow said its air defences intercepted 635 Ukrainian drones over several regions, including occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas.

A Ukrainian drone ignited a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, while another attack engulfed the company's logistics hub in the Vladimir region, where flames spread across nearly 100,000 square metres. More than 200 firefighters and 67 emergency vehicles battled the blaze, and Wildberries shifted operations to other facilities. CEO Tatyana Kim condemned the attacks as "acts of terrorism."

Elsewhere, drone strikes killed three people in Udmurtia, three in Belgorod, including a child, and two in Saratov, while oil, logistics and military related infrastructure in several Russian regions was also damaged, highlighting the intensifying cross border air war.