Russia’s biggest online shopping platform, Wildberries, has been hit hard by Ukrainian drone attacks on its massive warehouses. One big strike torched a huge logistics hub in Elektrostal, just outside Moscow, with more attacks following on sites in southern Russia. Fires raged, there were casualties, and a ton of goods went up in smoke.
For millions of Russians — especially in places far from regular shops — Wildberries (and its rival Ozon) is basically their go-to for everything from clothes to appliances. These platforms work like giant marketplaces where thousands of small independent sellers store and sell their stuff. Now a bunch of those sellers have lost serious money overnight: one woman selling school supplies saw her whole fresh delivery burn right before the busy back-to-school season, and another lost the equivalent of over £13,000 in teen clothing stock. Many are pausing new shipments because they’re worried about more attacks.
Wildberries’ owner has tried to soften the blow with some discounts and fee waivers, but sellers aren’t expecting full compensation — the company quietly added drone attacks to its “force majeure” list just days before the strikes.
Zelensky openly said Ukraine is bringing the war back to Russia in response to all the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and warehouses. Meanwhile, these hits are piling onto other problems Russian small businesses are already facing: higher taxes, fuel shortages from earlier strikes on refineries, internet disruptions, and a tough economic climate with inflation and falling oil revenues. It’s another blow to businesses that Putin has called vital for keeping the country going during the war.
In short, the attacks are showing how Ukraine’s long-range drones are starting to bite into everyday Russian life and commerce, not just military targets.
Wildberry is part of the military supply chain so…
Certainly there are goods sold via Wildberry that end up being used by the military.
But the western equivalent to me seems that Amazon warehouses are being targeted. And I’m very certain that Amazon Marketplace makes most of its money selling to civilians. Now before anyone shouts “But AWS”: Yep, AWS is a different case.
If the USA invaded Mexico I 100% would assume Amazon warehouses would be targets at some point
Yes, this is like bombing amazon warehouses. We all support Ukraine doing it.
I’m pretty sure the accusation isn’t “sometimes Russian soldiers by some shit”- rather that as a logistical distribution hub, the logistical network itself is being used to move military equipment (as well as source drone components…)
That’s not what being part of the military supply chain means. They are part of the military supply chain. They provide drone parts and navigation equipment to the Russian army.
AFAIK Wildberry provides the logistics to move stuff around. They are not a producer.
Logistics is the single most important aspect in warfare.
I’m not sure what the relevance is. Are you saying that providing logistics to the military is not enough to classify them as part of the supply chain?
The relevance IMHO is that Wildberry is primarily a consumer focused company that turned towards logistic for the military. Targeting them is a step up from going after state owned companies that produce products or profit directly used by the military.
While this doesn’t cross a red line for me, it’s the trajectory this development could take.
Comparing with Amazon is a false equivalence, Amazon has NO significance to the American military for distribution. While Wildberry is actively used as a significant distributor for equipment to the Russian military, especially of privately donated equipment for the Russian troops.
I am pretty sure that the US hast similar laws but here in Germany in case of war the government can draft civilian logistics companies.
IMHO that doesn’t mean that every logistics company is a valid target, though.