A wave of Ukrainian drone strikes has devastated warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest e-commerce retailer. The attacks killed at least nine people and destroyed up to 12% of the company's logistics capacity, causing an estimated $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion in merchandise losses. While Kyiv claims the hubs supply military gear, the Kremlin denies this. The strikes have dealt a severe blow to thousands of Russian small businesses, bringing the economic reality of the war directly to ordinary citizens.
Ukrainian drone warehouse strikes
- ▪The Ukrainian drone attacks on Wildberries warehouses killed at least nine people and injured dozens of others.
- ▪Ukrainian drone strikes hit Wildberries distribution centers in Elektrostal, Kotovsk, Krasnodar, Stavropol, Voronezh, St. Petersburg, Leningrad, and Simferopol.
Wildberries company profile
- ▪Wildberries was founded in 2004 by Tatyana Kim and accounts for approximately 50% to 52% of all online orders in Russia.
- ▪Wildberries operated more than 200 logistics facilities totaling over 5.2 million square meters as of 2025, with expansion plans for Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Military supply allegations
- ▪Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Wildberries supplies the Russian military, accusing Ukraine of striking civilian targets.
- ▪Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the targeted logistics facilities were used to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment to the Russian military.
- ▪A search of the Wildberries website revealed listings for military-related goods, including body armor, helmets, rations, and drone components.
Small business inventory losses
- ▪Oleg Kondratyev, co-founder of the clothing brand Airbase, lost approximately 5 million rubles ($90,000) of stock in the warehouse attacks.
- ▪Russian fashion designer Viktoria Terekhova lost 16,000 items, representing about 45% of her company's inventory, in the Wildberries warehouse strikes.
- ▪Wildberries changed its terms of service in July 2026 to exempt itself from liability for stock damaged due to force majeure, explicitly including drone attacks.
E-commerce sector damage
- ▪The drone strikes affected approximately 10% to 12% of Wildberries' total warehouse space and logistics capacity.
- ▪Data Insight estimated that Wildberries' merchandise losses from the strikes could run between 150 billion and 170 billion rubles ($1.9 billion to $2.2 billion).
Russian public morale
- ▪Russian President Vladimir Putin projected confidence in the country's economic resilience, stating that key sectors remain stable despite external attempts to destabilize them.
- ▪The warehouse attacks undermine Russian public morale by bringing the realities of the war closer to ordinary citizens who depend on e-commerce.
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