Russian officials say drone strikes hit Samara and Saratov regions, killing two in Engels

Russian officials said Ukrainian drones struck targets in the Volga region overnight, hitting a warehouse in the Samara region and a residential building in the neighbouring Saratov region. The attacks were reported on Sunday, with local authorities saying at least two people were killed in the city of Engels. The incident adds to a growing pattern of long-range drone strikes reaching deep inside Russia.

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The Russian defence ministry said it had shot down 635 Ukrainian drones during the night. In Samara region, governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said a Wildberries warehouse was hit by drones and that officials were still checking for possible casualties. He said the site was about 800 kilometres from the most advanced positions of Ukrainian forces.

In Saratov region, governor Roman Busargin said a residential building was struck in Engels, where two people died. Busargin said civilian structures were also damaged in Engels and in the city of Saratov. The region is strategically significant because Saratov hosts a major oil refinery, while Engels is home to a military air base.

Both locations have been targeted repeatedly in previous Ukrainian attacks, according to the information provided by regional officials. The latest strikes therefore affected both civilian property and infrastructure linked to Russia's wider war effort. The reported attacks come as Ukraine has increasingly used drones against economic and energy assets far from the front line.

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The stated aim of those strikes has been to weaken Moscow's ability to sustain the war in Ukraine, which has now lasted more than four years. The warehouse hit in Samara belongs to Wildberries, described as Russia's largest online retailer and a major part of the country's consumer market. Since 18 July, Ukraine has reportedly attacked about a dozen Wildberries facilities in an effort to disrupt the company's operations.

The focus on logistics and retail infrastructure suggests a broader effort to pressure Russia's domestic economy as well as its military supply chains. Wildberries is a prominent commercial actor, and repeated strikes on its facilities indicate that warehouses and distribution centres are becoming part of the conflict's wider target set. The damage in Saratov region also underlines the vulnerability of cities and industrial sites well beyond the front line.

That has implications for civilian safety, regional security and the resilience of Russia's internal transport and energy networks. What remains unclear is the full scale of damage, whether there were additional casualties, and how many of the drones reported by Moscow actually reached their intended targets. Ukrainian authorities had not commented on the strikes at the time of the report.

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