A wave of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting facilities operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, have signaled a strategic shift in Ukraine’s campaign, targeting the infrastructure that underpinning everyday Russian commerce while exposing growing weaknesses in an ailing economy. Often described as Russia’s answer to Amazon, Wildberries dominates domestic ecommerce, delivering everything from apparel and electronics to groceries and household goods across the country’s vast geography. Following the withdrawal of many Western retailers after the 2022 invasion, its importance only increased.
Logistical Hubs and Supply Chains Under Fire Across Russia
Over the course of a week, Ukrainian drones struck multiple Wildberries logistics centres across Russia, with attacks reported in locations including near Moscow, St Petersburg, Krasnodar, Stavropol and Yekaterinburg. Some facilities suffered significant fires while others suspended operations following drone alerts. According to estimates cited by Russian media, around 10% of Wildberries’ logistics network had suffered damage during the latest series of attacks. Ukrainian officials argue the warehouses are legitimate military targets because they allegedly support Russian military logistics and storage, accusations that Moscow denies.
Unlike attacks on oil refineries or military bases, warehouse strikes directly affect ordinary consumers. Millions of Russians depend on these platforms for next-day deliveries, particularly in regions where physical retail remains limited. Overnight, Ukrainian drones attacked a facility that’s tied to Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, a company called Wildberries. It was the tenth Ukrainian drone strike against Wildberries warehouses this week. Starting last Saturday and just about every day since, Ukrainian drones have struck these giant warehouses belonging to Wildberries, causing massive fires to facilities outside of Moscow, outside of St. Petersburg and several cities in the south of Russia. The costs have come in lives. At least nine workers are dead, dozens more injured, several of whom were migrant workers from Central Asia. But of course, there’s also material costs. Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer. And its warehouses are full of goods from small and mid-size Russian businesses, who have taken to social media to say these attacks have caused their financial ruin.
Economic Fallout for Russian Sellers and Consumers
Small- and mid-size merchants who store their inventory in Wildberries facilities have taken to social media to report severe financial losses. Kirill Valov, who runs a small clothing line, sounding rather depressed here as he describes how a third of his product, $150,000 in goods, just went up in smoke in a Wildberries warehouse outside of Moscow.
The Kremlin has acknowledged it may have to prop up online retailer Wildberries – which has lost 10% of its warehousing capacity and huge amounts of stock in Ukrainian drone attacks. Kyiv has said its forces are attacking Russia’s Amazon
because of its role in supplying Moscow’s army. The Kremlin acknowledged the government had discussed possible support for Wildberries. A senior industry source told Reuters that Wildberries was in a difficult situation and might have to seek government support, most likely through state-controlled banks, in order to maintain operations.
An executive at Ukraine’s leading arms producer Fire Point has said Wildberries is being targeted by Ukraine partly because of its partnership with state-controlled bank VTB. Denys Shtilerman, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer, in an interview posted on 27 July with the Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, described Wildberries as the largest borrower in Russia and said its demise would lead to the collapse of a large number of banks, including VTB. Wildberries and its rival Ozon are central to the Russian government’s plans to spur economic growth as Moscow faces mounting budget pressures from increased military spending and a broader economic slowdown.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov lavished praise on Wildberries for providing assistance to third-party sellers whose goods were stored in damaged warehouses. Those sellers have been clamouring for support. One of them, Marina Gorshkova, told her Instagram audience of 1.3 million people that she was appealing to the country’s leadership
for help.
Banking Pressures and Systemic Risk at VTB Bank
Following a series of strikes by Ukrainian drones on Wildberries’ logistics centers in Russia, there has been talk of a possible collapse of the largest marketplace.
