Ukraine has carried out another wave of drone strikes targeting warehouses owned by Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, leaving at least 15 people injured and forcing workers to evacuate two major logistics hubs.
The latest attacks come just days after Ukrainian drones struck other Wildberries facilities in Tambov and Elektrostal, where eight people were reportedly killed.
According to Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim and regional officials, logistics centres in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk in Russia’s Stavropol region were hit during overnight attacks, disrupting operations at the company’s facilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strikes, saying the targeted sites were linked to Russia’s military supply chain.
“Ukraine had hit logistics hubs in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions involved in providing the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear,” Zelensky said on Wednesday.
Following the attacks, Wildberries evacuated workers from the affected warehouses.
Reacting to the incident, the company’s founder, Tatyana Kim, condemned the attacks and expressed concern for employees.
“There are no words to describe all the feelings and emotions caused by the attacks on ordinary people, on our employees, on us, who are simply doing our jobs,” she wrote on Telegram.
“But these situations demonstrate the most important thing: we must continue to do what we do for the benefit of people.”
Authorities in Stavropol said five people sustained injuries at the Nevinnomyssk warehouse complex and were treated as outpatients.
In Krasnodar, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed that ten people were injured after drones struck another warehouse complex, with three victims reported to be in serious condition.
BBC Verify analysed available footage and confirmed fires at both logistics centres.
Reports of the attacks began shortly after midnight GMT, with Russia’s state news agency TASS reporting that air defence systems had been activated in Nevinnomyssk before videos showing massive explosions and fires surfaced online.
Footage from the scenes showed extensive fires engulfing warehouse buildings while thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
Governor Kondratyev described the overnight assault on Krasnodar as a “massive attack,” adding that drone debris struck a company facility in Armavir, killing one employee.
He also confirmed that an oil depot caught fire during the strikes, while fragments from intercepted drones damaged two apartment buildings in Krasnodar and two homes in Dinskaya village. No civilian injuries were reported from those incidents.
Zelensky also claimed Ukrainian forces targeted an oil depot, a tanker and four cargo vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet operating in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Russia has relied on a “shadow fleet” to move oil exports while attempting to bypass international sanctions imposed after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The latest attacks mark the second time in less than a week that Wildberries’ logistics infrastructure has been targeted.
Satellite imagery released after the earlier strikes showed extensive destruction at the company’s warehouse complex in Elektrostal, near Moscow, where several buildings were completely destroyed by fire.
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, previously told the BBC that Wildberries had become a logistics channel for military-related purchases.
“The primary rationale for striking Wildberries’ warehouses is to disrupt Russian logistics and the supply of dual-use goods, critical electronics, sanctioned goods and the like to the Russian army and Russian arms manufacturers,” he said.
“The collateral damage from such strikes could also have a serious impact on the Russian economy, as well as a psychological effect on Russian society and, likely, on continued support for the war.”
Unlike Amazon, Wildberries and its competitor Ozon primarily operate as online marketplaces, connecting independent merchants with customers while providing storage, delivery and payment processing services.
The repeated attacks have disrupted the livelihoods of hundreds of small business owners who depend on the platform.
One seller, identified only as Elena, told BBC Russian that the clothing she sells was destroyed in the strikes, leaving her without a source of income.
“If there are more strikes, I probably won’t manage. It’s terrifying to keep loading my goods into what feels like a furnace,” she said.
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