Drone attack ignites blaze at energy plant in Russia's Volgograd, governor says

A drone attack in Russia's Volgograd region injured five people and set ablaze an energy facility, warehouses, and a Wildberries logistic hub, with Ukraine suspected of being behind the strikes.

A ​drone attack set ablaze ​an energy facility and warehouses ‌in Russia's ​Volgograd region on Friday, injuring five, the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov, said, but stopped short ‌of giving details of the facilities.

The region is home to a Lukoil-owned oil refinery. Five people are seeking medical help after the attacks, Bocharov added ‌on Telegram. Top online retailer Wildberries said in a Telegram statement that ‌one of its logistic hubs in the city of Volgograd caught fire following the attack, but there were no injuries.

In the neighbouring southern region of Rostov, ⁠a ​woman was injured after ⁠a drone attack in the town of Gukovo, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said ⁠on the messaging app. Ukraine has recently stepped up attacks on Wildberries facilities, as ​it keeps up strikes on energy facilities that have triggered a ⁠supply crisis across most of Russia.

Wildberries, with a few of its other warehouses ⁠hit ​as recently as Thursday, earlier said it had paid a second tranche of financial support to nearly 100,000 sellers whose goods ⁠were damaged. Ukraine, with its own cities under constant Russian attack, says its strikes deep ⁠inside the ⁠neighbour are "long-range sanctions" designed to sap Moscow's war-fighting capacity and force it to end the 4-1/2-year conflict.