Ukraine first hit a Wildberries warehouse on 18 July. One was near Moscow, another in the Tambov region to the south of the capital. Since then it has struck about a dozen more, from Krasnodar in the south to Sarapul, more than 1,200 kilometres (about 750 miles) from the front line. Officials say the strikes have started huge fires and killed at least eight people.
Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer, sometimes called “Russia’s Amazon”. Russian media put its share at up to 10 percent of the country’s whole retail turnover. It has tens of thousands of pickup points, some in remote villages, and says it handles more than 20 million transactions a day.
Why Kyiv says it is a target
President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the warehouses “logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear.” Wildberries and the Kremlin both reject that description. Since the strikes, the company appears to have removed a search tag linked to Ukraine war paraphernalia from its website.
Wildberries has also faced accusations since 2022 that it helped Russians get around Western sanctions by importing branded goods through third countries.
Denys Shtilerman, head of the Ukrainian defence firm Fire Point, said the strikes were partly meant to damage Russia’s economy. He said he hoped they could set off a financial crisis.
The damage
The company has published no damage estimate. Forbes Russia reported that strikes on two warehouses in southern Russia last week could alone have caused more than $1.5 billion in losses. Other outlets say Wildberries may have lost up to 10 percent of its storage capacity overall.
Wildberries says it has paid around $500,000 in compensation to the families of employees who died. It has also repaid some small businesses for their losses, though many sellers say they remain out of pocket, and some report having signed clauses that waive compensation if a drone hits a warehouse.
Viktoria Terekhova, who founded a children’s clothing brand, said in an Instagram video that she had lost “practically all” her stock and had no route to compensation. “We lost not only the goods but also all the money invested in them… I hope I have the strength, courage, and resilience to get over this,” she said, breaking into tears.
Chief executive Tatiana Kim, reportedly Russia’s richest woman, who is said to have started the company from her apartment in 2004, says Wildberries is working on security measures and redirecting goods. She accused Kyiv of attacking “ordinary people.”
The Kremlin has acknowledged it may have to help the company but has not decided on state aid.
