MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) – Online retailer Wildberries, Russia’s answer to Amazon, and the merchants who trade through it are grappling with losses in the wake of Ukrainian attacks on warehouses operated by the retailer, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Drones targeted two large logistics hubs in the cities of Kotovsk and Elektrostal on Saturday. The strikes killed eight workers, sparked fires and disrupted operations at Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, which can handle over 20 million orders per day.
While the extent of the damage remains unclear, the attacks on a company so central to the consumer economy appear to mark a widening of Kyiv’s strategy of using long-range drones to disrupt Russia’s war effort and pressure the Kremlin to make peace.
Asked about the attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: “The situation is indeed difficult because of the losses suffered both by the company itself and by representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.”
He denied accusations from Ukraine that Wildberries handles military supplies.
Wildberries started as an online shop reselling apparel from European catalogues. It has since expanded its product range and evolved into a marketplace that includes third-party vendors. Wildberries has not commented on the scale of the damage.
SHIFT TO ONLINE RETAIL
On Monday, founder Tatyana Kim said the company was aware of many questions about compensation for damaged goods at its Elektrostal facility, but said it needed more time to take stock of the impact of the attacks. She did not say when the site would reopen.
The Kotovsk facility would resume accepting deliveries on July 23 and goods stored there would return to sale, she said in an online post.
Turkish retailer Koton Magazacilik said on Tuesday a portion of its inventory had been affected by damage to the Wildberries sites.
Any protracted disruption to Wildberries’ operations is likely to be felt by many across Russia. With over 1 million sellers, the company is one of the main forces behind a rapid nationwide shift to online retail.
Online sales across Russia rose 28% in 2025 to 11.5 trillion roubles ($147 billion), according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said sales of goods and services on digital platforms equate to around 8.5% of GDP.
Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure have already affected daily life across Russia, prompting the authorities to intervene to support the domestic fuel market after shortages triggered hours-long lines at gas stations and public unease.
Peskov said the government was in touch with Wildberries in connection with the attacks and was helping deal with issues.
On a “We sell on WildBerries” group on the Telegram messaging app, some members discussed how to handle sales while the two warehouses were closed.
Others discussed why Ukraine had targeted Wildberries. “Retaliation for their own warehouses,” one person wrote, suggesting an explanation for the attack, and adding that Ukraine might be trying to inflict “a blow to (Russia’s) economy in terms of GDP and jobs”.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian postal sites and energy infrastructure since launching the full-scale invasion in early 2022.
($1 = 78.3705 roubles)
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Additional reporting and writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Aidan Lewis)
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