The war in Ukraine has taken a new turn in recent weeks with a wave of drone attacks against the logistical infrastructure of Wildberries, the Russian e-commerce giant . Since mid-July, Ukrainian forces have repeatedly struck the company's warehouses, causing millions of dollars in damage and disrupting the daily lives of millions of Russians who rely on its services. According to Kyiv, the strategy aims to weaken the logistical capacity that Moscow might be using to supply its military, although the Kremlin vehemently denies this.
The most recent attacks, which occurred on July 30, targeted distribution centers in the Penza and Udmurtia regions, east of Moscow. In Penza, a 90.000-square-meter warehouse was hit, causing a fire that forced the evacuation of some 200 workers and left at least one person injured. In Sarapul, a town in Udmurtia, another 50.000-square-meter facility also burned after being hit, although no casualties were reported in this case. These facilities join a long list of targets that already includes warehouses in Ryazan, Perm, Elektrostal, and Kotovsk, among others.
A systematic campaign against Wildberries' logistics
According to independent sources and the company itself, between 13 and 15 logistics centers have been attacked since July 18. The impact has been devastating: more than 15% of Wildberries' total storage area has been taken out of service , equivalent to more than 860.000 square meters. The largest single loss occurred at a 250.000-square-meter complex in Elektrostal, where one employee was killed. In total, at least ten deaths have been reported, including seven workers who perished in the first attack in Kotovsk, about 400 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Wildberries has confirmed it is reorganizing its logistics chains and diverting orders to other facilities. As a preventative measure, the company has begun searching for 100.000 square meters of storage space in neighboring Kazakhstan to protect its operations from Ukrainian drones . This decision reflects the seriousness of the situation, as the company processes more than 20 million orders daily and is used by between 85% and 90% of Russia's economically active population.
Consequences for sellers and the Russian economy
The attacks not only affect Wildberries' infrastructure but also thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that rely on the platform to sell their products. Many sellers have lost their stock overnight and, according to testimonies gathered by the BBC, do not expect to receive compensation. The reason is that Wildberries added a clause to its contracts in early July that includes drone attacks as a "force majeure event ," exempting the company from liability. Although the owner, Tatiana Kim, has promised not to abandon the sellers and has offered temporary discounts, the financial damage is considerable.
The Russian economic context is exacerbating the situation. VAT was raised from 20% to 22% in January to finance defense spending, and tax breaks for certain businesses were eliminated. According to the data platform Kontur.Fokus, some 209.000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) closed in the first quarter of 2026, a 9% increase compared to the previous year. High inflation and a budget deficit are stifling an economy already burdened by war and international sanctions.
Ukraine justifies these attacks as part of its strategy to disrupt supplies that it claims Russia uses to equip its military. Although products such as night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests are sold on Wildberries platforms, there is no confirmation that the attacked warehouses distributed military equipment. Moscow, for its part, insists that these platforms are not used to supply troops and accuses Ukraine of attacking civilian infrastructure.
Drone attacks are not limited to Wildberries. On the same night of July 30, Russian air defenses shot down 258 drones over several regions, including annexed Crimea. In the Rostov region, a woman was killed when drone debris fell on a residential building in Taganrog. The escalation of long-range attacks is bringing the conflict closer to the Russian civilian population, who are beginning to feel the daily consequences of a war that has already lasted more than four years.
Wildberries, which had a turnover of 6,1 trillion rubles in 2025, maintains that the current losses represent less than 2% of its revenue, so its finances are not severely impacted. However, for smaller vendors and the Russian economy as a whole, the blow is much harder. The search for warehouses in Kazakhstan and the reorganization of supply chains are signs that the company is preparing for a conflict that, far from ending, is intensifying.