Ukrainian Strikes Knock Out 27% of Wildberries Warehouses, Inflicting Billions in Losses
Kyiv says the e-commerce giant supplies Russia’s military; Moscow denies it, while the government scrambles to support affected sellers and the company faces a cash-flow crisis.
A sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, has put 14 logistics centres covering more than 1.5 million square metres out of operation since 18 July, equivalent to roughly 27% of the company’s total warehouse capacity. The strikes have destroyed goods belonging to hundreds of thousands of third-party sellers and inflicted direct losses on the company that market sources estimate at over 100 billion roubles, with a worst-case scenario reaching 200 billion roubles. The attacks form part of a broader effort by Kyiv to degrade military supply networks deep inside Russian territory.
Viewed from Kyiv, the warehouses function as hubs for the Russian war effort. President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated that the facilities are used to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment, and the Ukrainian defence ministry has described Wildberries as a distributor of “military and dual-use goods”. The European Union’s council, when adopting its 21st sanctions package, declared that Wildberries Bank LLC provides substantial revenue to the Russian government. Wildberries and Moscow deny that the sites serve the armed forces. The company’s founder and CEO, Tatyana Kim, has characterised the attacks as a force majeure event, telling sellers that the law does not oblige the platform to compensate them for losses caused by terrorism.
The financial damage is spreading across the platform’s ecosystem. Analysts cited by Forbes Russia estimate that rebuilding the affected warehouses could cost 105 billion roubles, while sellers’ potential losses are placed at between 215 billion and 280 billion roubles. Up to 10% of the goods listed on the site belonged to Wildberries itself, compounding the company’s exposure. The retailer’s business model relies on holding buyer payments before settling with sellers; a sustained drop in turnover risks disrupting that cash cycle and delaying pay-outs. The Russian government has moved to contain the fallout. Vice-Premier Alexander Novak ordered the economy and finance ministries, the tax service and the central bank to prepare support measures for affected entrepreneurs by 10 August. Possible steps include compensation based on the cost of destroyed stock, which could add roughly 250 billion roubles to a federal budget deficit that already reached 5.7 trillion roubles in the first half of 2026.
Wildberries, founded by Kim in 2004, dominates Russian e-commerce and has seen its turnover grow more than 1,000% since 2021. It operates a financial arm, WB Bank, and in May announced a strategic partnership with the majority state-owned VTB Bank. A survey of 986 sellers conducted by the services ecosystem SellerDen found that 67.7% are now considering or already using alternative sales channels, primarily the rival marketplace Ozon and their own online stores, though most large sellers cannot afford to abandon the platform entirely. The company has begun partial pay-outs to the smallest merchants, with a second tranche reaching 97,000 entrepreneurs on 30 July, and is reportedly exploring storage capacity in Kazakhstan as domestic warehouse owners prove reluctant to lease space. Market sources quoted by The Bell expect Wildberries to become unprofitable for years and to require a fundamental restructuring, while the government’s concrete rescue plan remains unclear.
| Atlantic / Anglosphere press | −0.20 | neutral |
|---|---|---|
| Russian & CIS press | −0.80 | critical |
| Continental European press | 0.00 | neutral |
Ukraine strikes Wildberries warehouses because they are part of Russian military logistics, making them legitimate military targets.
By framing the attacks as a strategic campaign against military infrastructure, the narrative normalizes the targeting and shifts focus away from civilian economic impact.
The devastating losses for individual sellers and the human cost of the attacks are omitted, as the focus remains on military rationale.
Wildberries sellers are innocent victims with no alternatives, facing catastrophic losses from indiscriminate Ukrainian drone attacks.
By emphasizing the scale of losses and the lack of alternatives, the narrative evokes sympathy and condemnation of Ukraine, portraying the attacks as unjust.
The military justification for the strikes and the context of the war are omitted, presenting the attacks as unprovoked.
Ukraine targets Russian logistics, but the economic impact on Russia is limited; the attacks are a tactical move with some casualties.
By adopting a detached, analytical tone and balancing both sides' perspectives, the narrative presents itself as objective and factual.
The catastrophic scale of losses for sellers as portrayed by Russian sources is omitted, as is the strong condemnation of the attacks.
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