Moscow/Kyiv, Aug. 2 (SANA) At least two people were killed in overnight Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian regions, while Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes destroyed millions of books at a publishing warehouse in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as both sides continued to strike infrastructure far from the front lines.
Russian regions hit by Ukrainian drones
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 635 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Roman Busargin, governor of Russia’s Saratov region, said a drone strike on a residential building in the city of Engels killed two people and damaged civilian infrastructure in both Engels and the regional capital, Saratov.
Saratov is home to a major oil refinery, while Engels hosts a Russian strategic air base. Both locations have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks during the war.
Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, governor of the Samara region, said Ukrainian drones also struck a warehouse operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the nearest Ukrainian front lines.
He said the attack sparked a fire but caused no casualties, adding that emergency crews were working to extinguish the blaze.
Radiy Khabirov, governor of Russia’s Bashkortostan region, said air defense systems repelled a large-scale drone attack targeting industrial facilities. One drone was shot down over an industrial zone in the regional capital, Ufa, where firefighters were responding to a blaze.
Ukraine says refinery and air base targeted
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had struck the Saratov oil refinery and the Engels military air base, adding that fires broke out at both facilities. The military also said it targeted an oil storage facility in Russia’s Kaluga region.
Kyiv has expanded its long-range drone campaign against Russia’s energy, industrial and logistics infrastructure, saying the attacks are intended to reduce Moscow’s ability to sustain its military operations.
According to Reuters, Ukrainian forces have targeted about 12 Wildberries facilities since July 18 in what appears to be an effort to disrupt the company’s operations. Wildberries is Russia’s largest e-commerce company and is often compared to Amazon.
Russian strike destroys publishing warehouse in Kharkiv
Separately, Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike destroyed a warehouse belonging to the Ranok publishing house and the KnyhoLand bookstore chain in Kharkiv, wiping out an estimated eight million books.
Ranok Chief Executive Viktor Kruhlov said the warehouse, which stored textbooks and Ukrainian-language publications, was hit twice by attack drones in what he described as a deliberate strike.
“Two drones struck the same location. This was a deliberately planned operation to destroy textbooks and Ukrainian books.”
According to Ranok, the warehouse contained around 600,000 textbooks, 28,000 book titles and approximately eight million copies, including publications from several Ukrainian publishing houses within the RNK-Ranok group.
Ukraine says educational materials deliberately targeted
Ukraine’s Education and Science Minister Andrii Butenko said the attack also destroyed educational materials intended for schools ahead of the new academic year.
He said it was the second strike targeting educational publishing facilities in two weeks after a Russian attack in July destroyed more than 410,000 textbooks.
“Warehouses and printing houses are being deliberately selected as targets. Along with the print runs, they are trying to destroy the Ukrainian language, history and memory.”
The Education Ministry said digital versions of the destroyed textbooks would remain available to students while efforts continue to ensure schools open on schedule.
The latest strike follows another Russian attack on Kyiv in July that destroyed about 800,000 books stored at a warehouse used by the BookChef publishing house.
R.A/ABD
