A thick column of smoke billows above St. Petersburg after a Ukrainian drone strike hit logistics facilities run by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, on July 24, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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A Russian strike on an energy facility in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv and its surrounding district left roughly 150,000 residents without electricity on Friday, the regional power distribution company said.
Repair crews were working to bring electricity back to affected consumers across the area, the company said in an update posted on Telegram.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian air defense units were also responding to a Russian attack on Friday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The developments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised strikes carried out by Ukrainian defense forces against a major missile components plant in the Russian city of Kirov, along with an attack on an oil facility nearly 1,350 kilometers (838.9 miles) away.
Zelenskyy said the facility in Kirov produced components for Russia’s aircraft and missile systems, calling the strike “entirely justified” because such parts had been used in attacks on Ukrainian cities and communities.
“There were other successful strikes as well. Importantly, the operation against Russian logistics, which supplies the occupying army with drone components, navigation equipment, and military gear, remains underway,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a social media post.
Ukraine has targeted major logistics centers on Russian territory over the past week, including multiple attacks on facilities belonging to Wildberries, a retail giant that is often compared to U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.
The attacks, which signal a new phase in the more than four-year Russia-Ukraine war, appear designed to severely disrupt Moscow’s supply chains and increase the financial burden facing the country’s businesses and state budget.
EU agrees fresh sanctions on Russia
Separately, the European Union on Thursday unveiled its largest sanctions package against Russia in four years, targeting almost 220 individuals and entities as it seeks to squeeze the country’s economy and its capacity to prolong its full-scale invasion.
“We’re hitting over a hundred banks and crypto operators, 40+ vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet, and several oil refineries in Russia and Belarus,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.
“Russia will only negotiate to end its illegal war and stop killing civilians if it is pressured to do so. Sanctions add to this pressure,” she added.
