Ukraine drones torch Moscow-region warehouse in deep strike push

Moscow,UPDATED: Aug 19, 2026 10:20 IST

Ukraine stepped up its long-range drone campaign against Russia overnight, with waves of drones targeting a huge logistics centre outside Moscow that was still on fire the next morning. Dark smoke rose from what had been one of Russia's largest retail warehouses as Ukrainian crews, hundreds of miles away, were already preparing for another strike.

On Sunday morning, a small group of soldiers from Ukraine's 413th "Raid" Unmanned Systems Regiment gathered in a sunflower field in southern Ukraine around 20 small aircraft-like drones loaded with explosives and launched them towards Russia. Associated Press journalists watched the launch, offering a rare look at a fast-growing part of Ukraine's war effort as Kyiv tries to take the war deep inside Russia.

Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to hit military, industrial and logistical targets far from the front line. This year, Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russia with long-range missiles and swarms of drones aimed at military industries and energy facilities. It has also repeatedly hit giant Wildberries depots, setting fire to billions of dollars' worth of goods belonging to the Russian online retail company.

The attacks have brought the war closer to ordinary Russians nearly 4.5 years into Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They have also forced Russia to spread its air defences across a wider area, disrupted airports, caused fuel shortages and hurt morale, according to the report.

The regiment's commander, Yevhen Karas, said his unit had also taken part hours earlier in the strike on the Wildberries warehouse about 45 kilometres south of Moscow, during one of Ukraine's biggest attacks on Russia so far. He said Ukraine would need to punish the Kremlin "if we want to get a stable and long period of peace, and normal peace". He added: "The bigger casualties they have," the sooner they will go for peace.

Kyiv's officials want Russians to feel the consequences of the war and to put pressure on President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace settlement. Putin has shown no sign that he plans to end the war. Karas said he believed the impact of Ukraine's long-range strikes on Russia's economy was making the cost of the war clear to ordinary Russians, and hoped this would push Moscow back to the negotiating table after months of US-brokered talks stalled.

Before the drones were launched on Sunday morning, Karas used a black marker to write a message on one fuselage: "Moscow burns under the sky, red flame rises so warm and high, dark smoke moves above the town, fire lights the night all around."

Karas, 38, had a very different life before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. A philosophy graduate, he and his brother Volodymyr both volunteered for the front on the day of the invasion. His brother was later killed while defending the Kyiv region. In the months that followed, Karas rose through the ranks and became an officer in Ukraine's Special Operations Forces.

In 2024, he was appointed commander of the newly formed 413th Raid Unmanned Systems Regiment. The unit began by using drones for reconnaissance and other battlefield work, but as the technology improved and flight range increased from hundreds to more than a thousand miles, it was assigned long-range missions using Ukraine-made FP-1 drones against targets deep inside Russia.

The unit includes people who worked as an opera singer, computer programmer, rapper and cellist before the war. Their routine is now built around a simple sequence: prepare the drone, check the systems, move it into position and launch. Then they wait for the result and repeat the process.

The unit's medallion, known in many militaries as a challenge coin, carries its insignia on one side, a stylised three-pronged arrow. On the other side is an image of the Kremlin in flames with a drone flying above it. Karas said that at this stage of the war, Moscow should fear the skies. "Muscovites should spend their nights in their wonderful metro, just as residents of Kyiv have spent years going underground to escape Russian missile and drone attacks," he said.

Once the drones were airborne, the soldiers packed up their equipment and drove away, leaving almost no sign of their presence in the sunflower field before moving on to the next launch site. The operation underlined how Ukraine is combining repeated long-range strikes with pressure on Russia's military, economy and public as the war continues.

With PTI Inputs

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