Russian forces launched a missile strike on Ukraine on Friday, resulting in at least 15 deaths, including 10 at a military exhibition near Kyiv. Earlier the same day, Ukrainian forces carried out missile and drone attacks on multiple targets within Russia, including a missile factory and warehouses belonging to the online retailer Wildberries, causing at least six fatalities.
The missile attack near Kyiv struck a sports complex hosting a weapons exhibition on the city’s outskirts, Ukrainian officials reported. Dozens were injured in the strike as rescue operations were underway. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described efforts to clarify the extent of the damage and the fate of those affected as ongoing. This incident echoes a previous attack in 2023 when a Russian missile hit a drone manufacturers’ meeting in Chernihiv, killing seven and injuring hundreds.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, announced a criminal investigation into the organizers of the exhibition, citing the need for heightened caution and professionalism during wartime.
Additional casualties were reported in the eastern city of Sloviansk, where a Russian guided bomb killed five civilians. The United Nations has noted that attacks across Ukraine have recently resulted in an average of about 170 civilian casualties daily in early July. Kyiv has faced repeated ballistic missile assaults during the summer.
In response, Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military production sites, fuel facilities, and commercial warehouses. Among the strikes, a facility in Russia’s Kirov region—an important supplier of aircraft and missile components for the Russian military—was hit with newly developed Flamingo missiles, according to Ukrainian sources and video footage shared by President Zelensky. Russian authorities confirmed six people were killed and 26 wounded in that attack. The plant, operated by Avitek, is subject to sanctions by the United States, the European Union, Ukraine, and other countries.
The Ukrainian military also targeted warehouses linked to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, marking the fourth series of such strikes since the previous weekend. On Friday, attacks hit two warehouses in St. Petersburg, one in Novosaratovka in the Leningrad region, and another in Simferopol, Crimea. A poultry farm’s warehouse in Leningrad was also damaged. Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim confirmed the warehouses in St. Petersburg and Simferopol were struck but said some inventory and facilities were saved. Russian authorities reported three injuries in Novosaratovka and noted that previous strikes had resulted in eight deaths on Saturday and one on Wednesday.
The recent wave of missile and drone strikes reflects an intensification of the air campaign between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides seeking to weaken the other’s military capabilities and economic infrastructure amid a largely static front line.