Ukraine Strikes Moscow and St. Petersburg: Five Dead
One of the largest drone attacks on Russian territory was carried out overnight. Russia claims to have shot down 320 aircraft over 19 regions, while fires engulfed key warehouses.
One of the largest drone attacks on Russian territory was carried out overnight. Russia claims to have shot down 320 aircraft over 19 regions, while fires engulfed key warehouses.
At least five people were killed and six injured in a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region during the night of August 3-4, 2026. The news was confirmed by regional governor Andrei Vorobyov on his Telegram channel, adding that the strikes caused multiple fires in the industrial zone of Novosyolki in the Chekhov district.
According to his reports, a warehouse, an electrical substation, and an administrative building were damaged. The fire that engulfed the warehouse has since been extinguished, but a nearby house and a car were also affected in the incident.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that air defense systems shot down or intercepted a total of 320 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles overnight. The drones were neutralized over the territory of as many as 19 Russian regions, including Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, Moscow Oblast, and the Republic of Crimea. This represents one of the largest recorded drone attacks on Russia since the beginning of the conflict.
In addition to the Moscow region, the Leningrad region was also targeted. Governor Alexander Drozdenko reported that a warehouse near St. Petersburg was hit, causing a fire and injuring one person. The Telegram channel Clash Report reports that Ukrainian drones struck a large warehouse of the e-commerce giant Wildberries in the Krasny Bor area, causing massive fires. Additionally, in the Tver region, another warehouse used by the same company was damaged.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has intensified attacks on Wildberries' distribution centers, Russia's largest online retailer, often compared to Amazon. Kyiv accuses the company of storing and transporting goods used in the war against Ukraine. Wildberries claims that more than 20 of its distribution centers have been attacked so far. Military analysts believe that Ukraine aims to bring the war closer to ordinary Russian citizens through these attacks, as Wildberries plays a crucial role in the daily lives of millions of Russians.
In response to the attacks near St. Petersburg, the Finnish Defense Forces established a temporary no-fly zone in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.
Meanwhile, Russia continued its own strikes. According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the night of August 3, four cargo ships were attacked in the Ukrainian ports of Mykolaiv and Pivdennyi, which Moscow claims were transporting weapons and military equipment. In the city of Chornomorsk, an auto parts factory and a port terminal were hit, where Ukrainian forces were allegedly repairing military vehicles and storing ammunition and fuel.
On the Russian side, the Turkish maritime administration reported a fire on the cargo ship "Nadezhda" near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, also due to a drone attack. The ship, with 22 crew members, was en route to the Turkish port of Samsun. All crew members were evacuated and transferred to Russia, with three sustaining serious injuries.
Clashes continued on other fronts as well. Oleh Hryhorov, the regional governor of Sumy Oblast, reported that two children and an elderly woman were killed in a Russian drone attack on a car in the city of Sumy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Monday, August 3, that his country intends to further increase pressure on Russia, including continuing medium- and long-range drone attacks, in hopes that Moscow will agree to end the war by autumn.
Tensions further escalated after a drone attack on a Russian Black Sea beach on August 3, which killed seven people, including three children. While the Russian governor accuses Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians, a senior Ukrainian defense official told CNN that the deaths were "entirely the fault of Russian air defense," suggesting that the drone was shot down over the beach. Ukraine has not officially confirmed that the drone was theirs.
