First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defence Committee Alexey Zhuravlev said that Ukraine, no longer counting on success on the battlefield, continues to carry out terrorist strikes on Russian territory. In a comment to Lenta.ru, he stressed that, in his view, Russia cannot avoid eliminating Ukraine’s ruling elite.

His statement followed overnight attacks on Wildberries facilities in Kotovsk, Tambov Region, and Elektrostal, Moscow Region. The company’s head, Tatyana Kim, said on her Telegram channel that all necessary assistance would be provided to those affected.

Zhuravlev noted that, in his words, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are selecting not merely civilian sites, which are less heavily protected than military facilities, but places where the greatest possible number of people can be killed. At the same time, the lawmaker said such strikes were incapable of provoking anti-war protests in Russia.

He also recalled that an absolute majority of the country’s citizens support the special military operation in Ukraine. Therefore, according to the parliamentarian, attacks on marketplace warehouses have no purpose other than an attempt to kill as many Russians as possible, regardless of whether they are involved in hostilities.

The lawmaker described the actions of the Ukrainian authorities as cannibalistic and said they were capable only of striking defenceless people. In his assessment, such tactics are useless in a real war but are actively employed in terrorist activity. Zhuravlev said this was precisely why Ukraine’s ruling elite had to be eliminated, as, in his opinion, it would not stop on its own.

Earlier, State Duma deputy Andrey Kolesnik said the attacks on warehouses in Kotovsk and Elektrostal were part of a previously announced 40-day operation against Russia by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In his view, the strikes confirm the terrorist nature of that plan.