Report: Putin Shifts Public Itinerary East as Ukrainian Drones Strike Moscow

Independent reporting suggests President Vladimir Putin has shifted many of his public appearances east of the Ural Mountains amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow and surrounding areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with women representing various professional fields to congratulate them on the upcoming International Women's Day at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on March 5, 2026. / Valeriy Sharifulin / via REUTERS

Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit reported that, following an uptick in attacks, Mr. Putin's public schedule has increasingly focused on Siberia and the Russian Far East even as the Kremlin continues to list some meetings with a "Moscow" dateline. Local outlets said the president used a decoy plane on a recent trip to Novosibirsk and that residents along his motorcade route were ordered to remain indoors during the visit, according to Novaya Gazeta.

Smoke billows from the burning Wildberries warehouses following a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Koledino, Moscow Region, Russia August 16, 2026. / Stringer / REUTERS

Drone Strike on Wildberries Warehouse

The Moscow Times reported that Ukrainian forces launched a major overnight drone assault on the capital. Moscow Oblast governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram that strikes hit a Wildberries warehouse in the Podolsk suburb, killing an 83-year-old man and injuring several others. Wildberries — often compared to Amazon in Russia — has been repeatedly targeted by Kyiv, which accuses the retailer of supplying goods that support Russia's military operations.

Drones have become a key part of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Here, a Ukrainian serviceman outside Kyiv in 2014. / Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS

The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down 822 Ukrainian drones during the attack, according to The Moscow Times. Independent verification of this figure is not available in open sources.

Domestic Backlash and a High-Profile Dismissal

Voices close to the Kremlin have at times acknowledged strategic difficulties. Andrei Klepach, chief economist at state bank Vnesheconombank and a former Putin appointee, told a Moscow forum that Russia was "falling behind" technologically and economically and even, in some ways, losing to Ukraine. He warned that a war of attrition would be costly and that assumptions of collapse were misplaced. Multiple local outlets reported that Klepach was dismissed within days after his comments became public.

"We're falling behind," Klepach was quoted as saying. "We're losing both the technological and economic competition globally... We won't win the competition in this war of attrition."

Despite criticism, the Kremlin has continued to publicly support the military campaign. Officials say the president has embarked on visits across Siberia as part of a broader effort to shore up domestic support for the operation Moscow calls a "special military operation."

Note on sourcing: Reporting in this piece draws on independent Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit, Novaya Gazeta and The Moscow Times. Some claims — including security measures, the use of decoy aircraft and the number of drones downed — come from these outlets and official Russian statements; independent verification from additional sources is limited.