In brief
Ukrainian attack crews struck two Wildberries logistics centres overnight, killing one worker and injuring 15 across Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk. Ukrainian President Zelensky confirmed the sites supply the army with drone components and navigation gear, underlining the strategic value of the target. Eight wounded, a fatality, and the quick evacuation of workers highlighted the severity of the assault. The hit follows a similar strike four days earlier that killed eight people. Wildberries – Russia’s ‘Amazon’ – employs around 48,000 staff and serves a vast network of small businesses, making the attacks a blow to the domestic economy and a psychological counter‑offensive against Russian civil morale.
Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s biggest online retailer, Wildberries, for a second time, killing one person and injuring 15 in the south‑western regions of Krasnodar and Stavropol, local officials reported.
Wildberries logistics hubs, acting as de‑facto military supply depots, were hit overnight. The evacuation of workers in both Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk came ahead of a Beirut‑style shutdown as the company’s founder, Tatyana Kim, urged employees to keep on delivering goods to the public amid the attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelinsky said the centres “provided the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear.” He called the strikes vital to impede the laundering of dual‑use technology to the Russian defence industry.
Four days earlier, a drone attack on a Wildberries warehouse in central Russia killed eight, bringing the total to 14 casualties now. The company, employing about 48,000 people, operates as a marketplace that connects independent sellers with buyers across Russia, storing and delivering products while handling payments.
The strike inflicted widespread collateral damage. Businesses that rely on the platform—including small‑scale sellers, a mother of a disabled child, and other everyday traders—are now facing lost inventory and diminishing revenue.
With the warehouses ablaze, BBC Verify confirmed fires at both sites from the footage circulated by local media. Under the cover of the attacks, the Wildberries website listed a solid range of military gear—body armour, drone kits and similar equipment—underscoring the dual‑purpose nature of the retailer’s goods supply chain.
The psychological and economic toll is clear. With several hundred sellers depending on Wildberries for a living, the raids are not only an attempt to disrupt the Russia‑Ukraine war but also a direct blow to the domestic economy, as well as a deterrence for civilian and fringe support of the conflict.”
