A large plume of smoke rises over St. Petersburg following a Ukrainian drone strike targeting logistics facilities operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, July 24, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
A Russian attack on an energy facility in and around the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv cut power to about 150,000 residents on Friday, according to the regional electricity distribution company.
Workers were actively seeking to restore power to consumers in the area, the company said. said in an update via Telegram.
Ukrainian air defenses were also working to repel a Russian attack Friday morning in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. according to to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The update comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed strikes by Ukrainian defense forces on a key missile component facility in the Russian city of Kirov as well as the attack on an oil facility nearly 1,350 kilometers (838.9 miles) away.
Zelenskyy said the Kirov factory supplied components for Russian aircraft and missile systems, calling the attack “entirely justified” given that those same components had been used to target Ukrainian cities and communities.
“There were other successful strikes. It is important to note that the operation against Russian logistics, which supplies the occupying army with drone components, navigation equipment and military equipment, continues,” Zelensky said. said Friday in a social media post.
Learn more
Ukraine has targeted major logistics centers on Russian territory last week, including multiple attacks on facilities belonging to Wildberries, a retail giant often compared to the American e-commerce giant Amazon.
The attacks, which signal a new phase in Russia’s more than four-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine, appear destined to seriously disrupt Moscow’s supply chains and increase the financial burden facing the country’s businesses and state budget.
EU agrees to new sanctions against RussiaFurthermore, the European Union on Thursday revealed its largest sanctions program against Russia in four years, targeting nearly 220 individuals and entities as it seeks to squeeze the country’s economy and its ability to prolong its full-scale invasion.
“We are affecting more than a hundred banks and crypto operators, more than 40 ships of the Russian ghost 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 that pressure,” she added.
