Ukraine’s 571-Drone Barrage and Kirov Strike Expose Russia’s Rear-Area Vulnerability
Ukraine unleashed up to 571 drones overnight across Russia, hitting a major Wildberries logistics hub near St. Petersburg and the Avitek defense plant in Kirov, where officials say six people were killed and 26 injured. The strikes push the war deeper into Russia’s economic and industrial heartland, forcing businesses, workers, and regional authorities to live with a conflict they cannot control.
Russia woke up on 24 July to a reminder that its vast interior is no longer a safe distance from the front. Ukrainian forces launched what Russian authorities described as a massed overnight drone attack, with up to 571 drones reported in the air across multiple regions. Among the most visible consequences: a major logistics center of online retail giant Wildberries near St. Petersburg engulfed in flames, and a missile strike on the Avitek industrial plant in the Kirov region that left workers dead and wounded.
Regional officials in Kirov said six people were killed and 26 injured when an industrial facility was hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that Ukrainian forces struck what he called an important military enterprise in Kirov, identifying it as a plant that manufactures components for Russian missiles. He added that Ukrainian forces also hit an oil facility nearly 1,350 kilometers from Ukraine, along with other logistics targets, though he did not specify locations.
Near St. Petersburg and in Russia’s Leningrad region, local authorities and footage posted online showed a Wildberries logistics hub on fire after multiple drone impacts. Ukrainian-linked accounts circulated videos described as FP‑1 drones striking the complex “one by one,” with no visible air-defense fire. Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed more than 500 drones were intercepted or destroyed overnight, but acknowledged attacks across several regions, including Leningrad, where a Western Brand logistics center was also reportedly damaged.
For Russian civilians, the shift is tangible. Warehouse workers, truck drivers, and shift crews at industrial sites—people far from the front lines—are suddenly within range of a war they might previously have experienced only through television. The strike on Avitek turned a routine shift into a casualty event inside a supposedly secure rear-area facility. Employees of Wildberries and surrounding businesses now face higher physical risk and the knock-on economic shock of disrupted operations.
For Ukraine, these operations are designed to erode Russia’s ability to wage war over the long term. By targeting what it describes as missile-related industry in Kirov and fuel infrastructure more than a thousand kilometers away, Kyiv is signalling that distance and depth inside Russia are no longer a reliable shield for assets feeding the war effort. Strikes on logistics hubs serving major retailers like Wildberries add another layer: pressure on Russia’s domestic economy and public mood, not just its military machine.
Strategically, the scale of the reported 571-drone wave is as important as any single hit. It forces Russia’s air defenses to spread thin across a huge territory, increases wear on radar and missile stocks, and complicates decisions about which targets to defend. The apparent absence or ineffectiveness of air defense at some commercial sites will raise questions in Moscow about how to prioritize protection between military, energy, and economic infrastructure.
This fits a broader pattern of Ukraine using inexpensive long-range drones to turn Russia’s interior into an active theater, pairing deep strikes on energy and defense facilities with attacks on symbolic economic targets. The intent is to show Russian society that the cost of continuing the war is not abstract: it can burn through warehouses, refineries, and shift schedules as readily as it destroys tanks at the front.
A simple insight now hard to ignore in Moscow and St. Petersburg is that rear-area security has become a numbers problem as much as a technology problem: even a sophisticated air-defense network can be overwhelmed or outflanked if enough cheap, long-range drones are in the air at once.
The next indicators to watch are Russia’s response in the form of retaliatory strikes, any moves to harden or relocate key industrial and logistics sites, and whether Ukraine sustains this tempo of deep strikes—which would confirm that the drone campaign is not a one-off show of reach but a central pillar of its long war strategy.
Sources
- OSINT