Ukraine war situation update | 18 – 24 July 2026

Key trends

• Ukraine has been attacking warehouses of Russia’s largest online retailer across at least nine regions in Russia and in occupied Crimea since 17 July. While primarily a civilian store, the retailer sells dual-use products, including unarmed drones, drone payload-release components, and military clothing. Ukraine is targeting these warehouses in an attempt to affect Russia’s military logistics, but also to generally further worsen Russia’s economy. It is also likely in retaliation against Russia's long history of strikes on the Ukrainian postal service and shopping centers.
• Russia launched a massive wave of missile strikes targeting Kyiv city on 19 July. It deployed 41 ballistic and Zircon hypersonic missiles in the attack, the largest number deployed in a single wave of attacks to date. Russia has been increasingly using ballistic and Zircon missiles to attack Ukraine’s population centers, mainly Kyiv city and the eponymous region, exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot missiles required for their interception. Between 1 and 19 July, Russia reportedly used more ballistic missiles than it produces in a month, as well as two-thirds of its planned annual Zircon missile production.