Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv blows up biggest Wildberries hub in massive drone attack

Ukraine has struck a missile fuel production facility in Russia’s Rostov region overnight, Kyiv’s military said.

“The company…manufactures solid rocket propellant for multiple launch rocket systems, as well as for a range of missile systems and airborne weapons,” the military said on Telegram.

We’ll bring you more on the attack as it comes in.

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.

Polish president Donald Tusk said the country’s army will soon be the “largest in Europe” as Warsaw celebrated Army Day yesterday.

“Our army, our armed forces, will soon be the largest in Europe,” Tusk said during a speech at a naval parade in Gdynia that featured a record-breaking 300 armoured vehicles and approximately 2,000 soldiers.

“We can already say that we are building a force that will determine the fate of the region with its modernity and sheer numbers, and the entire world appreciates this, especially our allies,” he said.

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.”

Ukraine has fired more than 800 drones at Russia, killing at least six, Russian authorities have said.

In what is one of Kyiv’s largest aerial assaults of the war, 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.

Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said an 83-year-old man had been killed, with several more injured in Podolsk, where he said a warehouse belonging to online retailer Wildberries was struck.

In Kyiv, at least three people were injured in missile and drone attacks early on Sunday, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

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.

Kyiv has reportedly been using British drones to carry out deep strikes within Russia over the past six months.

While most of the strikes have been carried out by Ukrainian drones, British drones have also yielded success, The Times reported yesterday, citing a Ukrainian military source.

The British drones have struck oil refineries near Moscow as well as in Yaroslavl and Volgograd.

The Nyan jet-powered drone, tested by the British Royal Navy, has also been used to target the Russian city of Belgorod near Ukraine’s border with Russia, according to the paper.