Russian Regions Overnight, Killing at Least Eight People, Even As Moscow Claimed to Have Shot Down 635 of the Incoming Drones

Ukrainian drone swarms struck targets across multiple Russian regions overnight, killing at least eight people, even as Moscow claimed to have shot down 635 of the incoming drones. The deaths, announced by regional governors on Sunday, included three people killed when a drone hit a car in the Udmurtia region, more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the Ukrainian front line. Acting Governor Olga Abramova called the attack "monstrous in its senselessness, saying the victims "were definitely not a military target.

In the Saratov region, civilian infrastructure was hit in the cities of Saratov and Engels, where two people died after a residential building was struck, according to Governor Roman Busargin. Both cities have faced repeated Ukrainian attacks in recent years: Saratov hosts a major oil refinery, and Engels is home to a strategic bomber airbase. Ukraine's military said it had targeted the Saratov refinery and the Engels airbase, sparking fires at both, and also struck an oil depot in the western Kaluga region.

In the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, three people were killed and five wounded in Ukrainian strikes, the local task force reported. Ukrainian drones also attacked a Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, about 800 km (500 miles) from Ukraine's most advanced positions, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. He reported no casualties and said firefighters were extinguishing a blaze caused by the attack.

Ukrainian forces have been striking deeper into Russia, expanding attacks on economic and energy targets to undermine Moscow's ability to wage its more than four-year-old war. They have hit about a dozen Wildberries sites since July 18, aiming to disrupt the company, a linchpin of Russia's consumer economy often described as the country's answer to Amazon. In Ukraine, one person died on Sunday when a Russian guided bomb struck a residential building in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to local administration head Ivan Fedorov.

Another attack killed one person and set fire to a postal terminal on the outskirts of Kharkiv, regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Both sides are increasingly using long-range missiles and drones to strike far beyond the front lines. Data compiled by from Ukrainian Air Force reports showed Russia fired a record 376 missiles at Ukraine in July, more than double June's total, with most aimed at Kyiv.

The intensified ballistic campaign killed more than 170 civilians between July 1 and July 27, according to UN figures, culminating in an overnight barrage on Friday that killed at least nine people and wounded 33 in the capital. In that attack, Russia launched 220 aerial weapons, including 35 missiles — 27 of them ballistic — and 185 drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defence units intercepted 154 drones but only one ballistic missile, citing a critical shortage of US.