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Ukraine has attacked two more warehouses of Russian online retailer Wildberries, the company boss said on Wednesday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said Ukraine struck what he described as logistics hubs in Russia’s Krasnodar and Stavropol regions involved in supplying the Russian military with drone components and other equipment. Tatyana Kim, the co-founder and head of Wildberries, said a warehouse was attacked in Krasnodar, and another in Nevinnomyssk, which is in Stavropol. In Krasnodar, the regional governor said a young woman was killed and three others taken to hospital.
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Ukraine, whose own cities are under constant attack, insists it is hitting companies and infrastructure that support the Russian military. The attacks on massive Wildberries warehouses mark a new stage in Ukraine’s campaign of deep strikes inside Russia, whose military has targeted Ukraine’s logistics hubs as well as its energy system and power grid. A Russian e-commerce lobby group, Aurek, said it had asked the government to delay tax payments for half a year for businesses that sustained losses from the Wildberries attacks.
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Coinciding with the latest strikes, Mykhailo Drapatyi, Ukraine’s new top military commander, said he had been tasked with stepping up counteroffensive actions and launching new operations inside Russia. “The president of Ukraine has set clear objectives for us: to continue and intensify offensive operations in all domains, to plan new operations behind enemy lines, to develop our military and its technologies, and to build up the capabilities of the armed forces of Ukraine.”
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Pjotr Sauer writes that Drapatyi’s appointment is one of the few wartime decisions in Ukraine to command near-universal support, reflecting his high standing across the country’s political, military and civil society circles, and helping to steady the political mood after days of turmoil in Kyiv. Drapatyi famously charged a tank-like armoured vehicle through a pro-Russian blockade in Mariupol in 2014.
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Luke Harding writes, though, that Zelenskyy has come under sustained pressure to reinstate Mykhailo Fedorov – whose removal as defence minister cascaded into the sacking of Oleksandr Syrskyi as Ukraine’s top general and the appointment of Drapatyi in his stead. Protesters are organising a demonstration on Friday evening outside Zelenskyy’s presidential office, and Ukraine’s political crisis is likely to roll into a second week, Harding writes.
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A Russian attack damaged an energy facility in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, leaving more than 100,000 consumers without power, a regional electricity distribution company said. It added that repair work would begin as soon as the security situation allowed.
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The MV South Star oil tanker was boarded by European Union forces after being suspected of sailing under a false flag in breach of international maritime law, said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat. Kallas said the move was aimed at targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” carrying sanctioned Russian oil.
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Russia’s defence ministry said its forces struck the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Chornomorsk, hitting port infrastructure and vessels that it said were supporting the Ukrainian military, as well as warehouses it claimed were storing drones. The Reuters news agency said it could not independently verify the content of the Russian statement.
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The EU pushed on Wednesday to overcome an objection from Greece and agree a new round of sanctions on Russia to continue limiting its fossil fuel revenues. Athens is pushing for the bloc to allow one of its firms to keep on transporting LNG to non-EU clients from Russia’s Arctic Yamal facility. The 27 member states have meanwhile struck a temporary compromise to maintain a price cap on Russian oil at $44 for a week. Brussels wants to fix the oil price cap for several more months to stop Russia benefiting from price hikes caused by the Middle East war.
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Zelenskyy said he spoke with the US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Wednesday. The Trump interlocutors have repeatedly visited Russia to listen to Vladimir Putin and his representatives, but not Ukraine. Both the Ukrainian president and the White House confirmed the telephone conversation. Zelenskyy said: “It was a good, important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer. Peace is needed – peace with dignity, and Ukraine has long been ready for it.”
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Zelenskyy said he had met the US ambassador to Nato, Matthew Whitaker, in Kyiv and discussed licences for Ukraine to make Patriot air defence systems. “Production licences, missiles and everything else that is needed,” Zelenskyy said. “I am, frankly, asking for faster action and greater support.”
