Ukraine Hits Four Wildberries Warehouses in a Week, Killing at Least Nine, Russian Small Sellers Face Billions in Losses

Ukraine has now hit four warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in the space of a week. The first strikes came overnight into July 18, hitting facilities in Elektrostal near Moscow and Kotovsk in the Tambov region, according to the BBC. Overnight into July 22, drones hit two more Wildberries logistics hubs, in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol region, The Moscow Times reported.

The death toll keeps climbing. The BBC reported seven workers killed on a nightshift in Kotovsk and one fatally wounded in Elektrostal. Meduza put the initial toll at eight killed and more than 80 injured across the first two sites. The Moscow Times reported a woman injured in the Krasnodar strike later died in the hospital, and Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said 10 people were wounded there. Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said Wednesday that further casualties had been reported from the latest round of strikes.

Kyiv isn't hiding the motive. Ukraine says it struck "major logistics facilities" used to "supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment," according to the BBC. President Volodymyr Zelensky put it plainer: "We are, quite justly, bringing the war back home, to Russia."

The money question: who eats the loss

The Elektrostal facility is a 250,000-square-meter warehouse, one of Wildberries' largest logistics centers. Kotovsk is 108,000 square meters and only opened last year, according to Meduza, which cited estimates from Russian outlets Kommersant and Vedomosti that the two sites together made up 6.5% to 9% of Wildberries' total warehouse footprint.

Rebuilding cost estimates vary by outlet. Meduza cited Russian business sources putting reconstruction at 22 billion to 36 billion rubles. The Moscow Times cited industry estimates as high as 35.8 billion rubles, or roughly $457 million, calling it "a bill that insurance companies are unlikely to fully cover." The BBC, citing its own reporting, put destroyed goods at an estimated £750 million ($1 billion), a figure well above the Russian trade-press reconstruction estimates. This suggests the BBC number may be counting inventory losses on top of physical rebuilding costs, not just the warehouse structures.

Meduza's sourcing, drawing on Forbes Russia, Kommersant and Vedomosti, estimates that Wildberries' own losses are dwarfed by what its sellers lost. Meduza put seller losses at potentially 150 billion rubles or more, far exceeding the company's own physical damage, and noted the odds of sellers getting full compensation from the platform are slim. For context, Wildberries reported a 175 billion ruble net profit in 2025, according to Meduza, meaning the company can likely absorb its own losses even without insurance. The small sellers who stocked those warehouses don't have that cushion.

That gap is why a Russian seller's expletive-laden social media post went viral, according to the BBC. "I am a mother of a disabled child, I've built the business myself," she wrote. "I've lost 1m roubles. We're already getting screwed over from every direction as it is."

Why Wildberries specifically

Wildberries and rival Ozon are used by an estimated 85-90% of Russia's economically active population, the BBC reported. Global Banking & Finance Review, citing Reuters reporting by Gleb Bryanski, put the company's scale at 20 million orders processed daily across 3 million square meters of warehouse space, run by a company that started as a family business out of a Moscow apartment more than two decades ago. Founder Tatyana Kim is now Russia's richest woman, with a net worth Forbes puts at $7 billion, according to Global Banking & Finance Review.

The Kremlin has built real economic policy around these platforms. Reuters reporting carried by Global Banking & Finance Review says Wildberries and Ozon together generate the equivalent of 8.5% of Russia's GDP and employ 4 million people, more than 5% of the workforce. Putin's economic point man, Maxim Oreshkin, has been personally assigned to oversee the sector and has described platforms like these as a new form of planned economy, according to that reporting.

That's the strategic logic behind Kyiv's target selection: hit something the Kremlin has staked its economic stability on, and ordinary Russians feel it directly, not just through fuel lines or refinery smoke plumes. Ozon shares, though not Wildberries', are publicly traded and fell 4% on the Moscow exchange Wednesday morning on fears it could be next, The Moscow Times reported.

Russia has bombed Ukrainian logistics all war, hitting Nova Poshta sorting terminals, the ATB retail chain and Roshen confectionery warehouses, according to the BBC. Russia says the recent Ukrainian attacks on refineries and warehouses are aimed at "stirring turmoil in society," per Reuters reporting.

What's unresolved

Meduza reported the Kotovsk warehouse was expected to resume operations July 23, five days after the strike, while whether the larger Elektrostal facility reopens remains unclear. The fire there wasn't fully extinguished until the evening of July 21. Whether Wildberries carried any insurance on the destroyed facilities is still unknown, according to Meduza, and the company's own tally of total damage is expected to take at least a month. No figure exists yet for how many of the affected small sellers will actually receive compensation, from Wildberries or anyone else.