Ukraine Hits More Wildberries Sites – Ukraine once again launched successful long-range strikes against Russian commercial and logistics infrastructure overnight, targeting Russia’s largest online retailer and hitting a facility located almost 1,200 miles from the Ukrainian border. The strikes, which occurred overnight into August 7, forced the evacuation of hundreds of workers and added to the mounting economic pressure on Russia and the Kremlin.
The attack comes as Kyiv’s 40-day, long-range strike campaign extends beyond the original stated timeline, with Ukrainian forces broadening their targets beyond oil and energy infrastructure and striking commercial logistics infrastructure that Kyiv says supports the war effort.
Putin in March of 2024. Image Credit Russian Federation Government
Putin Back in 2022 Russian Government Photo
Drones Reach Deep Into the Urals
Multiple Russian officials and Wildberries itself confirmed the strikes early on Friday, August 7.
Acting Sverdlovsk Region Governor Denis Pasler said in a statement published on Telegram that Russian air defenses intercepted eight Ukrainian drones over the region overnight, although three crashed onto the roof of a Wildberries logistics center in Yekaterinburg, igniting a fire.
Wildberries confirmed the attack in a statement of its own, describing how firefighters and emergency workers successfully contained the blaze and secured the facility, successfully protecting most of the warehouse’s inventory. The company also said that inbound shipments had been temporarily rerouted to other warehouses while operations at the Yekaterinburg facility recovered.
Russian presidential envoy to the Urals Federal District Artyom Zhoga also said on Friday that approximately 800 employees were evacuated from the logistics center during the attack and that no injuries had been reported.
Videos Go Viral
Videos shared on Russian social media also appeared to show employees fleeing the warehouse as the drones struck the roof, suggesting that the strike was unexpected or that early warning systems failed to warn Wildberries officials that a strike was about to occur. Sustained gunfire can be heard in the background of the videos as local air defense units attempted to shoot down the aircraft.
The strikes are significant not just because it is one of many strikes against Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, but also because it is dramatically impacting the national economy, and indeed because the site is located some 2,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. That makes the most recent overnight strike one of the longest-range commercial targets struck by Kyiv’s campaign so far – and there’s no sign of the campaign slowing down.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense also said its air defenses intercepted 203 Ukrainian drones across the rest of Russia and occupied Crimea between Thursday evening and Friday morning.
Wildberries Under Sustained Pressure
Wildberries has been under sustained pressure from Ukrainian strikes since July 18. Russia’s largest online retailer has now become one of Kyiv’s most frequently targeted commercial companies, with President Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials arguing that it is a legitimate military target. According to Zelenskyy, Wildberries’ logistics network has been used to transport critical Russian military assets, including drone components and navigation equipment.
On July 22, Zelenskyy issued a statement about Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries sites, accompanied by a video showing an enormous fire engulfing a large warehouse and logistics center. In the statement, he described the rationale behind the strikes.
“Today, Ukraine’s long-range sanctions successfully struck important targets in Russia’s Krasnodar and Stavropol regions – logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and other gear – as well as another oil depot,” he said.
Why Kyiv Is Really Doing It
Striking Wildberries works on multiple levels for Kyiv, too. Not only is it a legitimate target if the company is indeed moving supplies used by the Russian military, but the damage to its warehouses is disrupting business operations for hundreds of thousands of merchants and thereby hurting the Russian economy.
At least 20 Wildberries facilities have now been attacked, with satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters showing that approximately 1.18 million square meters, or 12.7 million square feet, of warehouse space has been damaged or destroyed since the campaign began.
The damage now extends to more than one-fifth of the company’s total storage capacity.
The strikes not only disrupt the supply of materials needed by the Russian military — they are adding an element of political and economic pressure that did not exist before Ukraine could safely strike deep inside Russian territory. Today, regular Russian citizens are feeling the impact of a war that was previously only fought on Ukrainian soil, with long queues at gas stations for fuel, rising prices, and no certainty that goods ordered online will be delivered on time or at all.
Putin Must Be Worried
Wildberries operates roughly 98,000 pickup locations across Russia and neighboring countries, with businesses across multiple industries relying on the company’s vast logistics network to deliver products. Some franchise operators, according to Reuters, are now seeing sales fall sharply as repeated warehouse strikes slow deliveries and disrupt inventory flows. And as time goes by and the strikes continue, there’s no telling the damage it will have on Russia’s fragile wartime economy – or how that could influence public opinion about Putin and the war more generally.
About the Author: Jack Buckby
Jack Buckby is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, producing and editing analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at 19FortyFive and National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.
