The Moscow region has been hit by a huge Ukrainian drone strike with explosions at a warehouse complex for "Russia's Amazon", and an oil depot causing huge smoke plumes visible from miles around.
The strike at the vast Wildberries base in Elektrostal - 36 miles east of the Kremlin - sent noxious black smoke high into the sky in one of the biggest fires of the war. The blaze was visible more than 30 miles away with smog reported in parts of Moscow.
A key oil hub depot in Noginsk, also to the east of the capital, exploded in flames after another attack, leading to the evacuation of a nearby maternity hospital.
Meanwhile, seven were killed and more than two dozen wounded in a second drone strike on the Wildberries complex in Kotovsk in Russia's Tambov region.
Smoke from the attacks choked the streets of Moscow(Image: Social media/east2west news)
"The sky has turned to night, it feels like we're doomed," said one Muscovite. "It's like a scene from Armageddon," said another.
Owner of Ukrainian-sanctioned Wildberries, Tatyana Kim - Russia's richest woman with a £6.1 billion fortune - said: "A terrible night, terrible events for our company and our country. It's a pain that cannot be expressed in words.
"I offer my condolences to the families and friends of those who died, and we will definitely help their families. We will provide all necessary support to those affected."
Andrey Vorobyov, Governor of the Moscow area, said a total of 48 drones were shot down over the area overnight. He said the "most serious consequences" were in the Bogorodsky urban district, where a drone crash sparked a fire at Noginsk oil depot.
The Noginsk oil depot was also hit
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin separately claimed more than 370 Ukrainian drones were launched towards Moscow Oblast, the area around the Russian capital, overnight.
A maternity hospital near the incident was evacuated as a precaution, Vorobyov said, with all patients and staff transferred to other medical facilities.
He said: "Women requiring specialised care were taken to hospitals in Noginsk, Balashikha and Shchelkovo, while residents of an apartment building on Radchenko Street were also evacuated."
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says the city has been hit by a huge drone strike(Image: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Kremlin Poo/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)
Eyewitnesses shared footage showing flames and explosions at the oil depot in Noginsk. The facility contains 24 storage tanks with a combined capacity of 11,500 cubic metres.
Videos shared online show huge plumes of black smoke rising above the depot as flames engulfed the site. Vorobyov said 40 ambulance crews and 12 teams from the regional disaster medicine centre had been deployed to the Moscow area, while emergency services, police and municipal workers continue clearing the aftermath of the attack.
A total of 37 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said, adding that one of those later died in hospital.
The depot is understood to be one of the Moscow region's key fuel storage and logistics hubs, with traders and fuel companies using the site to store and transport petroleum products.
Wildberries is Russia's largest online retailer, with a network of warehouses and fulfilment centres across the country used to process and distribute orders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two "significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions".
"These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment," he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, Mr Zelensky confirmed.
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