Ukrainian air attacks kill three in Russia as Kyiv steps up drone campaign

Attacks spark fires at Lukoil’s NORSI refinery and a Wildberries hub as Kyiv claims 16 targets hit across Russia.A wave of Ukrainian drone strikes across Russia has killed at least three people and caused separate fires at a major oil refinery and a warehouse belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries.Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 426 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK to help Ukraine build Storm Shadow long-range missiles: Why it matterslist 2 of 3Russia to seize poorly protected infrastructure amid Ukraine drone attackslist 3 of 3Trump threatens Iran’s partners: How do secondary sanctions work?end of listTambov Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said that the Wildberries logistics centre was “completely destroyed by fire”. He said earlier that about 100,000 square metres (1.1 million square feet) of the facility were set ablaze, the equivalent of 14 football pitches.One person was injured in the strike, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. He did not say if the fire had been extinguished.The overnight strike targeted the Wildberries logistics centre in Kotovsk, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) southeast of Moscow.Another industrial facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region was also damaged in a drone attack, according to the regional governor. He did not give any further details, but the Ukrainian General Staff said the country’s military struck Lukoil’s NORSI oil refinery in the region overnight. The strike caused a fire at the site, and the extent of the damage was being assessed, the General Staff said on Telegram.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine hit 16 targets in Russia over the past day, including oil facilities and logistics sites. He added that the targets also included airfields, a missile unit, a military enterprise and infrastructure that Moscow uses to launch attacks against Ukraine, without naming the specific sites.