Russian missile assault hits logistics networks, disrupting Ukrainian supply chains

Russian missile strikes overnight destroyed key production and logistics facilities operated by Ukrainian retail group Epicenter, killing one employee and forcing the shutdown of one of the country's largest ceramic tile manufacturing plants, the company said.

According to Epicenter, Russian forces simultaneously struck two of its main logistics complexes. In Kyiv, a logistics center on Viskozna Street was destroyed in a fire, while another missile strike hit the company's logistics and production complex in Kalynivka, where two large warehouse facilities were destroyed by direct impacts, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

A separate missile struck the Epicenter Ceramic Corporation production plant, destroying all of its production kilns and rendering the facility inoperable, the company said.

One employee was killed in the attack on the Kalynivka complex, while three others were injured and remain hospitalized. The strike also destroyed a parking area for employees' private vehicles, where 20 cars were completely burned.

"One of our employees was killed, a young man with his whole life ahead of him," the company said in a statement.

Epicenter announced that production at the Epicenter Ceramic Corporation plant would be suspended. To prevent supply shortages, the company said it plans to shift production to two of its overseas facilities while simultaneously preparing to resume manufacturing at another site in Ukraine.

According to the company's preliminary assessment, restoring the destroyed production facilities will take at least a year and a half and likely around two years.

"It is not yet possible to definitively assess the scale of the damage. But today, this is not just about the company's losses. This is a targeted strike against Ukrainian manufacturing, logistics, jobs, and the country's ability to recover," Epicenter said.

The attacks formed part of a broader overnight Russian assault on Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched two waves of ballistic missile strikes and attempted to attack Kyiv with drones during the night of August 5.

Officials reported damage across Kyiv's Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Desnianskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, where warehouses and residential buildings caught fire. One woman was killed and 26 people were injured in the capital, according to local authorities.

The surrounding Kyiv region sustained even heavier losses. Ukrainian officials said 14 people were killed and 22 injured, with the Brovary, Bucha and Fastiv districts among the hardest hit. Authorities said Russian strikes targeted warehouses and logistics facilities in those areas.

By Vafa Guliyeva