Russia’s Amazon-style giant is in Ukraine’s crosshairs
Firefighters pass through smoke from a fire at Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries’ logistics complex in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026. According to the statement made by the authorities on July 18, 2026, eight people died and 24 people were injured in a drone attack by Ukraine on two logistics centers in Russia.
Tatyana Makeyeva | Afp | Getty Images
Ukraine increased its attacks against Russia Amazonstyle retail giant Wildberries signals a new phase in the war as Kiev seeks to inflict new damage on the Russian economy.
Ukrainian defense forces last week struck major logistics centers on Russian territory, including five facilities belonging to Wildberries, in the period from Saturday to Wednesday.
The attacks, which follow months of drone attacks on Russian oil depots and refineries, appear designed to severely disrupt Moscow’s supply chains and increase the financial burden facing the country’s business and state budget.
Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer and the equivalent of US e-commerce giant Amazon. Founded in 2004, the company currently has approximately 48,000 employees.
“Ukraine has found a new pressure point to use against Russia,” said Jimmy Rushton, an independent foreign policy analyst based in Ukraine. in question Wednesday via social media.
“If these attacks continue, ‘Wildberries’ (the Russian equivalent of Amazon and as important to internal logistics as Amazon is in the US or UK) will cease to exist,” he added.
Wildberries’ logistics centers in two southwestern cities in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions were hit overnight, Tatyana Kim, the company’s owner and Russia’s richest woman, said on Wednesday.
Kim said that one person died and many people were injured in the attack. The drone strikes follow separate attacks on the retailer’s warehouses in central Russia four days earlier, killing eight people, according to Russian officials.
“There are no words to describe the feelings and emotions created by the attacks on ordinary people, our employees, those of us who are just doing our jobs,” Kim said. via Telegramaccording to one translation.
“But these situations show the most important thing: We must continue to do what we do for the benefit of people,” he added.
Logistics centers will continue to be an important target
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the centers targeted by Ukrainian drones provide Russian forces with drone components, navigation equipment and other military components.
Serhii Kuzan, head of the Kiev-based Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation think tank, said the attacks on Wildberries served a dual purpose: hindering Russia’s economy and reducing the capabilities of its military industrial complex.
“The destruction of this logistics infrastructure deals a significant blow to the Russian economy and therefore to the state budget that finances the armed attack on Ukraine,” Kuzan told CNBC via email.
In this pool photo distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Moscow-appointed leader of the Russian-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 20, 2026.
Alexander Kazakov | Afp | Getty Images
Wildberries is a major player in Russia’s e-commerce sector, with the retail giant’s market alone accounting for about 3% of Russia’s gross domestic product, Kuzan said, citing data from the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Estimating that Wildberries’ total losses reached approximately $2.3 billion, he noted that the total amount of these losses exceeded the annual budgets of 53 regions of Russia, which could trigger a wave of bankruptcies among small and medium-sized businesses.
“Given the scale of the targeted facilities and their role in supplying both the civilian sector and the military-industrial complex, it can be assumed that this tactic will continue,” Kuzan said. he said.
“This allows Ukraine to inflict disproportionately significant economic losses on the enemy with relatively limited resources,” he added.
