Ukraine has struck two more warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in a fresh wave of drone attacks on the company's southern logistics network. The strikes hit facilities in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk on Wednesday, according to the company's co-founder and chief executive, escalating a campaign that is increasingly bringing the economic consequences of the war home to ordinary Russians.
One Dead, Three Hospitalised After Krasnodar Strike
The regional governor confirmed that a young woman was killed in the Krasnodar attack, with three other people receiving hospital treatment. Dramatic footage circulating on social media showed massive plumes of smoke billowing into the sky above the blast site. The scale of the damage and the immediate impact on customers and vendors had not been fully established.
Russia's own strikes have continued to exact a deadly toll inside Ukraine, with both sides targeting each other's infrastructure and logistics networks in an intensifying cycle of deep-strike warfare.
Wildberries Boss Condemns Attacks as Company Scrambles to Recover
Tatyana Kim, the co-founder and head of Wildberries, condemned the attacks in an emotional post on Telegram, saying there were "no words to describe all the feelings and emotions caused by the attacks on ordinary people, on our employees, on all of us who are simply doing our jobs." She later told journalists that the company's insurance policies contained no provisions for acts described as "terrorism and sabotage," but that the business was working to restore normal operations.
Kim said the company was actively redistributing stock across its warehouse network to maintain turnover and support its third-party sellers. Wildberries is also seeking government assistance in the form of tax relief and other concessions. An e-commerce industry lobby group, AUREK, separately called on the government to allow businesses affected by the strikes to defer tax payments for up to six months.
A New Front in Ukraine's Deep-Strike Campaign
The latest attacks follow a drone strike last Saturday that killed eight Wildberries employees, sparked fires and disrupted operations across the company's network. The repeated targeting of the retailer — often likened to Russia's equivalent of Amazon — marks what analysts are calling a new phase in Ukraine's strategy of striking deep inside Russian territory to erode the country's war-making capacity and unsettle civilian life.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the latest targets as logistics hubs being used to supply Russian forces with drone components and other military equipment. The Kremlin has rejected that characterisation, denying that Wildberries handles any military supplies.
Wildberries is one of Russia's largest private employers, having grown from a small online clothing reseller into a vast marketplace hosting thousands of third-party vendors. Its shares are not publicly listed, but the stock of its main rival, Ozon, fell 2.3 per cent on Wednesday afternoon as investors weighed the possibility that it too could become a target.
Broader Context: Infrastructure Under Fire on Both Sides
Russia has pursued its own strategy of striking Ukrainian logistics, energy systems and power infrastructure, leaving Ukrainian cities in darkness and disrupting civilian supply chains. Kyiv has endured some of the most devastating missile and drone barrages of the conflict, with mass casualty attacks continuing throughout the war.
Ukraine maintains that strikes on Russian commercial infrastructure tied to military supply chains are a legitimate and necessary part of its defence. Whether Wildberries will face further attacks — and how long the company can absorb the disruption — remains to be seen.
