Ukrainian Armed Forces they are gradually destroying the infrastructure of the Wildberrys company, the largest Russian internet trading platforms. Over the past two weeks, important company facilities have been the target of drone attacks. As of August 3, 12 of the online retailer's 15 largest warehouses in various regions were affected. Seven of them have not yet resumed work, reports the independent Russian research portal Agency Deutsche says.
According to estimates, Wildberrys may have lost at least 15 percent of its storage capacity, or 860.000 square meters. Among other things, the largest logistics center in Elektrostal, near Moscow, was completely destroyed. It not only supplied a significant region around the Russian capital, but also served as an important transshipment hub for goods from China.
Experts estimate that the restoration and repair of all the damage will cost at least 60 billion rubles (about 650 million euros). That's about a third of Wildberry's annual profit. The damage is even more serious for entrepreneurs who stored goods in damaged logistics centers. According to expert estimates, it amounts to almost 300 billion rubles (about 3,3 billion euros). However, Wildberrys is not responsible for this. The company has foreseen such provisions in the contracts with its business partners.
Wildberries is the "Russian Amazon"
Wildberries are often called the "Russian Amazon." Like Amazon, the largest Russian online trading platform is a place where everyone can offer their products - from independent entrepreneurs and individual companies to large companies. The slightly smaller Ozone platform competes with Wildberry on the Russian market. Among Russian consumers, both platforms occupy a more significant place than Amazon has among American or European consumers.
According to data from the analytical company Marketplace Pulse, Amazon participates with slightly less than 36 percent of the American e-commerce market. Amazon has no competitors of comparable size. The share of Wildberries in the Russian market, according to the daily newspaper Kommersant, which refers to the Russian research institute Euler, is 45 percent. Ozone holds 32 percent of the market. So only two portals, excluding significantly less Yandex. Market and Cooper control almost 80 percent of the Russian market.
Why is Ukraine attacking Wildberries?
After the first attacks at the end of July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the affected warehouses on social media "logistics centers involved in the supply of drone components, navigation devices and equipment to the Russian military." Russian President Dmitry Peskov's spokesman said that "that is not true." However, this is contrary to reality. Such goods are available on this trading platform and can be easily found using the search function.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian president, said in an interview with DW that cutting off supplies to the front is one of the goals of the attack on Russia's largest online trading platform, but that there are other goals as well. Damage to "a company with a turnover of 6,2 trillion rubles (about 67 billion euros)", according to Podoljak, would also affect its creditors, including large banks such as Sberbank, VTB and Alfa Bank. This could lead to a "dramatic emptying" of the state budget. Wildberrys itself states that its turnover in 2025 amounted to 6,1 billion rubles.
Podoljak believes that fires in warehouses will further cause dissatisfaction among the population. Many people who had nothing to do with politics and only wanted to make money lost everything at one point. Their opportunities, which they would have had in their country if it had not waged war, have also disappeared.
The destruction of Wildberries, according to Podoljak, should also be a signal to the elites. Among the beneficiaries of that company's business are not only the businessman close to the Kremlin, Suleiman Kerimov, about whom the Russian media has already written extensively, but also the officers of the Presidential Administration, Anton Vaino and Alexei Gromov. There have been no reports of their possible connections to Wildberries before.
An ideal target for Ukrainian attacks?
The volume of business of Wildberry and its main competitor Ozone is really huge. Observers believe that the estimated turnover of Wildberries, that is, the total value of goods sold and services provided, is somewhat overestimated. However, we are talking about billions of rubles. Ozon, as a listed company, publishes audited annual financial statements. Its turnover in 2025 was 4,16 trillion rubles (about 45 billion euros).
Online trading platforms boomed after Moscow's military invasion of Ukraine. Due to Western sanctions, as well as their own decisions, many well-known companies left Russia. The Russian authorities then allowed the so-called parallel import, i.e. the import of goods without the consent of the right holders. Clothing, electronic devices, home appliances and cosmetic products from well-known manufacturers have become available again in stores and online. Internet merchants offered them at significantly lower prices, which led to a sharp increase in their traffic. Wildberry's turnover in 2025 was seven times higher than in 2021.
Ukraine, apparently, considers Wildberry an ideal target for drone attacks. Unlike Ozon, this company decided to build huge logistics centers. They are easy to hit and burn intensely. The largest warehouses cover an area of โโseveral tens of football fields.
In addition, the company has accumulated huge debts, so it is uncertain whether it will be able to service them. In the report for 2025, it is stated that it partially violated its obligations to creditors, who nevertheless did not demand early repayment of debts.
Only the parent company of that internet platform at the end of 2025 had short-term liabilities of 802 billion rubles (8,6 billion euros), which increased eight times within a year, as well as long-term liabilities of 28 billion rubles (about 303 million euros). According to Russian media, the main creditor is the VTB bank.
Taras Skvortsov, a senior manager at state-owned Sberbank, another major creditor of Wildberries, said the bank is "considering increasing provisions" for approved loans - provisions are money a bank sets aside from its profits to cover possible future losses if a customer defaults on a loan. In other words, it is preparing for the possibility that Wildberries will not be able to repay the loan under the originally agreed terms.
According to Reuters, Wildberries co-owner Tatiana Kim has asked the government for help. The spokesman for the president, Dmitry Peskov, said that "the government is monitoring the situation, that a dialogue is being conducted, but that no concrete decisions have been made in this regard yet." Reuters sources assume that the rescue of Wildberry will be entrusted to the bank VTB. Wildberry recently concluded a "strategic partnership" with that bank.
Therefore, further attacks on Wildberrys are a serious problem for them, and the extent of these problems will depend on how long the attacks continue.
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