Ukrainian drones carried out coordinated overnight strikes on targets deep inside Russia on August 3, hitting a major Wildberries logistics center in the Vladimir region and a university linked to military drone technology development in Belgorod, marking the latest escalation in Kyiv’s campaign against Russian supply infrastructure.
In the Vladimir region, drones attacked the Wildberries “Vladimir-Vorshinskoye” logistics center near the village of Khryastovo, igniting a massive fire at the sprawling 171,900-square-meter facility. The complex is one of the online retailer’s largest distribution hubs, connecting the Moscow region with central and northwestern parts of European Russia. Governor Alexander Avdeev confirmed the strike, saying emergency services were deployed and three people were injured.
In Belgorod, several drones targeted the Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. Shukhov, destroying one of its buildings. According to local outlet Pepel and the Moscow Times, the facility had been used to develop and test an automated drone control system based on the Russian-made Milandr microprocessor. The university had recently opened enrollment for summer programs teaching schoolchildren drone development.
Ukraine said the strikes targeted facilities involved in supplying sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment used by the Russian military. The Vladimir warehouse became the 18th Wildberries logistics center hit by Ukrainian forces since mid-July, part of a sustained campaign against what Kyiv describes as a dual-use supply network supporting Russia’s war machine.
The attack on Belgorod’s technological university is particularly significant as it directly targets Russia’s domestic drone production pipeline. Ukraine has repeatedly identified civilian tech institutions in Russia as key nodes in the military’s effort to scale up first-person-view drone manufacturing and deploy more sophisticated autonomous systems on the battlefield.
Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace, has seen its logistics network systematically degraded in recent weeks. A day earlier, Ukrainian drones struck another Wildberries facility in the Samara region, which the company’s Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi described as a primary logistics corridor linking European Russia with Siberia.
The strikes are part of a broader Ukrainian strategy to disrupt Russia’s war economy by targeting facilities that process and distribute components critical to drone and weapons manufacturing. By hitting logistics hubs that serve both commercial and military functions, Ukraine aims to complicate Russia’s efforts to maintain production rates while imposing economic costs on businesses supporting the conflict.
Sources: UNITED24 Media | Meduza | LBC
Author: Ukraine Desk
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