Ukraine had a productive night on Sunday into Monday, with Ukrainian drones striking targets, including a university that’s involved in Russian drone technology, another Wildberries logistics hub, and multiple sites in Russia-occupied Crimea.
According to the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s drones struck the Belgorod State Technological University, a university that reportedly is a center of research for the “automated drone control system’ based on Russia’s “Milandr” processor. The university is not far from the Russia/Ukraine border.
A M109A7 Paladin, assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, fires a round during Operator New Equipment Training on Fort Hood, Texas, Aug. 25, 2025. The First Team is fielding new equipment, as part of the Transforming in Contact initiative, and conducting training to increase familiarization and precision with the new vehicles. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. David Dumas)
Artillery Attack Pentagon Creative Commons Photo
U.S. Soldiers assigned to the 65th Field Artillery Brigade, and soldiers from the Kuwait Land Forces fire their High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (U.S.) and BM-30 Smerch rocket systems (Kuwait) during a joint live-fire exercise, Jan. 8, 2019, near Camp Buehring, Kuwait. The U.S. and Kuwaiti forces train together frequently to maintain a high level of combat readiness and to maintain effective communication between the two forces. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. James Lefty Larimer)
A video of the university strike was posted to Telegram.
The strike on Wildberries, also carried out by drones, was on a logistics center in Russia’s Vladimir region, Kyiv Post said. It’s a 58,500-square-meter facility opened in late 2024, and serves Moscow and other parts of central Russia and the northwest.
Why Wildberries?
It’s part of a wider campaign by Ukraine against Wildberries, which has been called Russia’s answer to Amazon. According to an earlier Kyiv Post story in late July that cited the Russian outlet Agentstvo, Ukraine had struck 18 Wildberries facilities, accounting for about 38 percent of the company’s total warehouse capacity.
Those strikes included ten of the company’s 26 largest warehouses.
Agentstvo also concluded that nearly all of Wildberries’ largest warehouses are within reach of Ukraine’s drones.
The New York Times reported in late July about why Ukraine is striking that particular retail giant. The idea is bringing the war “closer to home” for Russians, as Wildberries is widely seen as a “pillar” of life in Russia. The attacks have also greatly hurt small business owners in Russia who sell their goods through the site.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Wildberries sells goods to Russia’s military, although the Russian government has denied that.
The Times reported that the retailer does not sell “military-grade weapons,” although it does offer various goods that can be used by soldiers, including commercial drones and fiber-optic cables.
Crimea, Too
Kyiv Post, citing the monitoring channels Crimean Wind and Exilenova+, also reported on some new strikes on occupied Crimea, including in the Saky district, Feodosia, Simferopol, and Kerch, where explosions were reported.
In the Feodosia strike, Kyiv Post reported, Russian mobile air defense units tried to intercept the drone, but “it may have struck an area near a local oil depot.”
As a result of those strikes, traffic on the Crimean Bridge was temporarily suspended.
DW.com reported earlier this weekend that Crimea has recently become a more frequent strategic target for Ukraine.
The goal, that report said, was to isolate Crimea, including by attacking transports from Russia. The attacks have led to frequent power cuts, especially in northern Crimea.
On August 1, Kyiv Post reported that Ukrainian drones had struck other locations in Crimea, including a naval drone storage facility near Chornomorske, railway bridges near Chonhar and Vladyslavivka, and a Black Sea Fleet electronic intelligence unit in Sevastopol.
With the Drone Strike Force
The Guardian this week published a feature from a reporter, Luke Harding, embedded with a unit from Ukraine’s drone strike force.
Part of the “Magyar’s Birds” brigade, named after the callsign of Ukrainian drone chief Robert Brovdi, the unit participated in the mid-July Crimean “switch off,” which was intended to attack Crimea’s power grids.
“We are making history here. This is where democracy beats totalitarianism,” Lt Col Ray, of the drone unit, told the newspaper. “It’s like George Orwell. But this time Big Brother loses.” Ray added that he feels “revenge and justice” every time one of the brigade’s drones approaches its target, as he sees the unit as part of the defense of the Ukrainian people from a foreign invader.
Drone Deals Are Done
Not long after those successful drone strikes, Ukraine announced another big development involving its drone technology. According to United 24 Media, Ukraine says it has agreed to “drone deals” with nine countries, while 15 more are in the process of negotiation.
The format of the deals, President Zelensky said on Monday, is that Ukraine “receives long-term, annual funding for the country and for Ukrainian defense manufacturers,” while the partner nations receive access to those technologies.
In mid-July, Ukraine had reached such a deal with the European Union.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
