Ukraine has hit a major logistics hub of Russian online retailer Wildberries in Yekaterinburg, east of Moscow, continuing its three-week campaign of near-nightly strikes.

At least 20 Wildberries warehouses have been attacked since July 18, sparking major fires, destroying entire warehouses of stock, and disrupting its vast logistics network across the world’s largest country. A Reuters review of satellite imagery shows at least 1.18 million square metres of storage space – more than a fifth of the company’s capacity – has been damaged or destroyed.

The strikes are part of a campaign by Ukraine to “bring the war home” to ordinary Russians and raise the cost to Russia of continuing the conflict that Moscow launched in February 2022.

The Russian embassy in Berlin dismissed a suspected drone attack at a major German air freight hub this week as “fabricated provocation” on Friday, saying it was another example of accusations against Russia without evidence.

“The embassy is expressing its concern about a new wave of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany,” said a statement published on its website in German and Russian.

German federal prosecutors launched a probe this week into what they described as a serious attack that could have impacted foreign and domestic security.

“It ​is obvious that this hastily fabricated provocation ‌only serves the interests of ⁠Kyiv and the militarist wing of the European political ⁠class,” the Russian embassy said in its statement.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine aims to achieve “concrete results” by the end of this year in developing a European anti-ballistic missile defence system under the Freyja programme.

“Ukraine is capable of producing its missile and launcher, while our partners will provide the necessary components and critical elements – radars, sensors, and everything else required … Others spent decades developing their systems. Ukraine must do this as quickly as possible, with concrete results already in place by the turn of 2026–2027,” he said.

He also said Ukraine is accelerating work on its own ballistic missile programme, adding that tests have shown “strong potential” and that the goal is to turn it into a “real weapon”.

“We are creating all the necessary conditions to make that happen.”

Russia’s war on Ukraine has entered its latest phase, with each side making use of increasing numbers of long-range munitions to strike deep into the other’s territory.

In the early summer of this year, there was a surge of optimism across the media when it became clear that Ukraine was stepping up its strikes at enormous ranges into Russia, and there was little that Moscow could do about it. But that optimism needs to be balanced against the new reality that with anti-missile interceptor systems exhausted, there is not much Ukraine itself can do to blunt Russian missile attacks. For now, those attacks sow misery and death by blasting residential areas with little warning: but next winter, they could once again target heating and power infrastructure and have an even more devastating effect on Ukraine’s ability to keep its people alive than last year.

Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure is not new: it began almost as soon as it became clear that Russia had failed in its initial objective of swiftly overrunning the country in February 2022. But its new character today results both from massive increases in the numbers of missiles and drones available to Russia, and the way they have outstripped Ukraine’s air defences.

The reluctance of allies to provide the weapons needed to take the fight to Moscow has seen the Ukrainians carry out their own campaign against their enemies’ infrastructure – but, Keir Giles writes, we know by now that Russia’s leader is happy to let his country burn.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Serbia on ⁠Friday for his first visit to the Balkan country expected to focus on economic cooperation ⁠and bids by ​both countries ⁠to secure European Union membership.

Zelensky posted a video on Telegram showing his arrival ahead of talks with populist president Aleksandar Vucic and other officials.

“We will be ‌speaking about expanding ‌economic ties between our countries, relations with the European Union, and ⁠other things that can work for our peoples, as well as security issues,” Zelensky wrote.

Zelenskiy’s visit will likely sour ties between Serbia and Russia, its long-time ally and main natural gas supplier.

On Thursday, ‌Vucic said ⁠the two leaders would ⁠discuss European Union accession bids as well ‌as ​economic and energy cooperation.

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk Region on Friday killed two people and injured six, the regional governor said.

Oleksandr ⁠Hanzha said Russian forces had ⁠launched nearly 50 ​attacks ⁠on five ‌districts in the region, deploying drones, artillery ‌and aerial bombs.

Two people were killed near Nikopol, a frequent Russian target on the western bank of the Dnipro River, opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

One ​of the ‌wounded was ⁠in a serious ⁠condition, Ganzha said.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed a vote in the US Senate that backed sweeping Russian energy sanctions, advancing a long-delayed measure backed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham.

“Coming on the ​back ⁠of the ‌EU’s 21st package, I welcome the US Senate’s ‌adoption of the ‌Graham Bill,” wrote von der Leyen on X.

“Together, let us drain Russia’s means to continue a war it cannot win. With hard-hitting, complementary sanctions, Europe and the United States can once again show what historic partners can achieve when we act together,” added von der Leyen.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky expressed thanks to the US Senate on Friday for the passage of a bill imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia.

“We are ⁠very grateful to ​the ⁠US Senate ‌and to everyone who supports Ukraine,” Zelensky ‌said on X.

“Adopting the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act certainly helps increase pressure on the aggressor to bring this insane Russian war against our independence and our people to an end,” he said.