Ukrainian authorities reported severe damage to the country’s food supply chain on Friday after Russian drone and missile strikes targeted logistics hubs, retail networks and civilian facilities across multiple regions.
Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi estimated that roughly 90% of the food logistics operated by retail chains has been destroyed in recent attacks, though he stated that food shortages were not imminent. Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said strikes over the past 24 hours had hit civilian businesses, food warehouses, hypermarkets, postal terminals and book storage sites. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Kyiv remained under air raid alerts for nearly 15 hours on Thursday as waves of drones and missiles targeted the capital.
Governor Tymur Tkachenko of the Kyiv region reported that more than a dozen storage facilities were damaged in drone strikes on Friday, while Governor Ivan Fedorov of Zaporizhzhia said at least four people were injured after a drone hit an Epicenter building materials store. In Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a shopping center was struck, marking the second such attack in the region within two days. Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private courier, confirmed that sorting centers near Kyiv and in Sumy were destroyed, disrupting deliveries.
Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, under the National Security Council, said Russian forces were deploying small batches of jet drones in waves to overwhelm air defenses and exhaust the population in Kyiv. Head Andriy Kovalenko described the strategy as an attempt to paralyze the city and deplete resources. Officials noted that disruptions had caused train delays in multiple regions, with passengers stranded for extended periods. Ukraine’s state railway reported that delays were gradually easing on Friday but residual disruptions were expected to persist for at least another day.
The attacks have intermittently removed fresh produce, sugar and dairy products from supermarket shelves in Kyiv due to warehouse disruptions. A drone strike also destroyed a major bookstore network warehouse in the Kyiv region that handled thousands of titles daily, further disrupting civilian supply chains.
