Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries warehouses

Rapid expansion since 2022

Wildberries is the largest online retailer in Russia,^[7] and is widely considered to be the Russian equivalent to Amazon in the United States.^[8][9][10] Founded in 2004, the company grew rapidly since the start of Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after which most Western brands quit the Russian market, and domestic companies such as Wildberries rushed to fill the gap.^[11] The chain's gross merchandise value almost tripled from 844 billion rubles (US$10.4 billion) in 2021 to 2.5 trillion rubles (US$30.8 billion) in 2023.^[11]

2024 Kremlin-backed Russ Outdoor takeover

The frequency of state inspections by health and safety officers rose sharply in those years: 400 times in 2022, and over 1,600 times in 2023.^{[12]: 27:02–27:16} After a major fire broke out at a Wildberries warehouse in Saint Petersburg in January 2024, the government opened a legal case against the company for allegedly violating fire precautions.^{[12]: 27:17–27:35} Under circumstances that are not entirely clear, it appears that Wildberries was then forced to merge with the much smaller outdoor advertising business Russ one ninth of its size, with Russ' CEO Robert Mirzoyan also becoming CEO of the merged corporation, and Wildberries' CEO Tatyana Kim only keeping 65% of its stakes.^{[12]: 27:35–30:33} Kim's estranged husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, and some analysts described the rushed merger as a hostile takeover through krysha: Mirzoyan allegedly offered to protect Kim against criminal charges for the fire by using his close connections via billionaire senator Suleyman Kerimov to Vladimir Putin himself (who personally signed off on the deal) in return for acquiring a 35% stake in Wildberries, though Kim and Mirzoyan both denied these claims.^{[12]: 27:35–30:33}

On 18 September 2024, a group of armed Chechen men of Kadyrov, led Vladislav Bakalchuk, tried to enter the company's headquarters in Moscow, leading to a shootout that left two Wildberries security guards from Ingushetia dead.^[13] Kim contacted the police, and Bakalchuk was briefly arrested on a murder charge, that was subsequently dropped,^[14] apparently with the help of Kadyrov's political influence.^{[12]: 33:04–33:44} Analysts concluded that the shootout was Balachuk's failed last-ditch attempt to retain some control over the company through armed violence, and aligning Wildberries with Kadyrov's faction rather than allowing his estranged wife to place herself under the protection of the Kerimov/Mirzoyan faction.^{[12]: 31:08–33:44} Kim subsequently divorced from Balachuk, and a few weeks later, Kadyrov declared a blood feud against Kerimov on local television, although no further conflicts between the factions have been reported since.^{[12]: 33:44–34:14}

Following the 2024 merger with outdoor advertising group Russ, the combined Russ Wildberries group (RWB) reported a 2025 turnover of 6.1 trillion rubles (US$75 billion).^[11] However, Wildberries received no dividends over 2025; all of the 51 billion rubles (US$640 million) in dividends went to Russ Outdoor.^[15] As of 2026, Wildberries' share of the online retail market of Russia is 45% (well ahead of competitor Ozon at 32%), and is of particular importance when it comes to electronics and non-food retail.^[16][11] Wildberries and Ozon jointly represent about 4% of Russia's gross domestic income, with Wildberries having a client base of approximately two-thirds of the country's adult population.^{[3]: 3:00–3:12}

"Everything for the Special Military Operation"

The company has been accused by Ukraine of contributing to the Russian war effort, supplementing the Russian Armed Forces with components for aerial military equipment, which are used to target Ukrainian cities.^[8] On its official website, Wildberries publicly lists drone components, body armour, other military equipment and dual-use goods for sale.^{[19][3]: 5:24–5:32} This includes drones, drone components, propellants, microcontrollers, video cameras, bullet-resistant vests, and battlefield medicine equipment.^{[3]: 5:08–5:14} Before the Ukrainian strikes on the warehouses began, these items were all commonly found in the section "Всё для СВО", meaning "Everything for the SMO (Special Military Operation)", the official Kremlin name for its invasion of Ukraine.^[20][18][17] On 26 July 2026, this tag was quietly removed from products on Wildberries.ru, but "some products still carry labels such as ‘tested for the SMO’ or ‘used in the SMO zone’. According to The Moscow Times, more than 200,000 products were previously available under the ‘Everything for the SMO’ tag," Radio Svoboda reported.^[18]

Military economics

Because of Wildberries' direct involvement in supplying military equipment to the Russian Armed Forces engaged in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the company (in 2022 the largest taxpayer in Russia) and its founder and CEO Tatyana Kim (the richest woman in Russia) had previously already been subjected to international sanctions and trade restrictions.^[19] An additional reason for targeting Wildberries has been the fact that it provided the largest warehouse capacity in Russia close to the frontline in Ukraine, and the Russian military security services needed a lot of warehouse space to store and move large amounts of materiel, in which Wildberries was thus tasked to participate in.^{[3]: 5:24–6:00}

On 7 July 2026, just 11 days before the strikes began, Wildberries updated its terms and conditions to state that the company could not be held liable for goods destroyed in "force majeure" events, which included drone strikes.^[21] This would later add to the fury of sellers, who lost all their merchandise as the depots went up in flames, and would not be compensated for it at all.^[21] Russian business media estimated that about 80% of the warehouse buildings and inventory were not insured by either Wildberries or the retail sellers.^{[3]: 8:58–9:16}

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the drone strikes were aimed at eliminating the Wildberries "logistics centers involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and other military hardware,"^[1] and were also a response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.^[9]

Ukrainian officials say the primary goal of the operations is to disrupt Russian logistics and supplies which are much needed by the Russian forces, and that a secondary goal is to damage the Russian economy and support for the war amongst the populace.^[9] On 27 July, Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilerman added that Wildberries' partnership with the Russian state-controlled VTB Bank made it a prime strategic target; since Wildberries was the "largest borrower in Russia", its crash would result in several banks (including VTB) collapsing.^[22]

July 2026

On 18 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were struck in Kotovsk, Tambov Oblast, and Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast. Online videos of the warehouses engulfed in flames surfaced.^[9] Eyewitnesses told journalists or independent media that evacuation of the struck warehouses was chaotic.^[23] The fire alarm was allegedly not raised until flames were already raging widely through one of the facilities.^[23] Some managers supposedly deliberately kept employees inside buildings rather than organising an evacuation, compelling workers to force open automatic doors manually.^[23] Some supervisors ordered workers to return their barcode scanners first before exiting the facility.^[23] One worker from a labour union hypothesised that evacuation may have been delayed over concerns that employees might try to steal goods.^[23] Experts told the Kommersant that restoring these two facilities could cost up to 35.8 billion rubles ($457 million; c. €405 million), which insurance companies would probably not fully cover.^[23]

On 20 July, a building rented by Wildberries as a sorting centre in the industrial park of Yuzhnye Vorota (Южные врата, "Southern Gate") in Domodedovo, Moscow Oblast was struck by drones, engulfing it in flames.^[24]

On 20 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were reportedly struck in Koledino (south of Podolsk in Podolsky District), Moscow Oblast.^[25]

On 22 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were struck in Krasnodar, Krasnodar Krai, and Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai.^[10]

On 23 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were struck in the Novousmansky District of Voronezh Oblast, located between the villages of Nechayevka and Alexandrovka.^[a][26]

On 24 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were struck in Novosaratovka (Utkina Zavod in Vsevolozhsky District)^[19] and Shushary (in Pushkinsky District), both nearby St. Petersburg and in Leningrad Oblast.^[27] A strike on a Wildberries logistics hub in Emmaus, Kalininsky District, Tver Oblast was reported the same day, although that claim turned out to be erroneous.^[b] Wildberries also confirmed a drone-induced fire at its warehouse in Simferopol, the capital city of Russian-occupied Crimea.^[19] By that time, at least nine Wildberries warehouses had been hit on 4 days over the course of one week; the Moscow-based company Data Insight estimated the losses so far in merchandise alone at 170 billion roubles (c. $2.2 billion; c. £1.64 billion; c. €1.9 billion).^[21] As of 24 July, at least nine people reportedly died as a result of various strikes;^[21] seven of these deaths occurred at the Kotovsk facility on 18 July.^[28] Wildberries was estimated to have over 200 warehouses and logistics centres across the Russian Federation, which were practically impossible to protect completely from cheap Ukrainian drones with expensive Russian air defence systems.^[21]

On 25 July, a strike on a Wildberries warehouse in Yekaterinburg occurred in the morning. However, according to Wildberries, the warehouse itself was missed and operations resumed four hours later, with footage suggesting that only the parking lot was hit.^{[29][30][3]: 3:54–4:95}

On 28 July, the 3PL logistics warehouse in Koledino, Podolsky District caught fire after an attack.^[31] The strike might have missed its intended target, as a larger Wildberries warehouse was located nearby, but reportedly undamaged and "operating normally"; 3PL ("Third Party Logistics") is an independent logistics company.^[31]

On 29 July 2026, Wildberries facilities were struck in Tyushevo, Ryazan Oblast.^[32] Russian authorities reported shooting down 45 UAVs over the skies of Ryazan Oblast that night, while "falling debris" caused fires in industrial areas, injuring six people.^[33] After the facility was evacuated and firefighting was conducted, Wildberries' press service initially reported the fire had been contained, "most of the goods were saved, and the storage area was virtually untouched", but later said that the warehouse would temporarily stop accepting deliveries.^[33] On 6 August, Tatyana Kim personally visited Ryazan to meet with representatives of Ryazan retailers to inform them about the situation and develop support measures, suggesting that entrepreneurs seek compensation from local authorities.^[34]

On 30 July, two Wildberries warehouses were hit in Priovrazhnoye, Penza Oblast and Sarapul, Udmurtia, respectively.^[35] The same day, a Wildberries warehouse was struck in Zamulyanka, Perm Krai.^[36][37]

On 31 July, a Wildberries logistics and energy facility in Volgograd was hit by Ukrainian drones.^[38][39] The same day, Astra geolocated video footage of drone strikes on an industrial site in Zelenodolsk in Tatarstan, which houses facilities of both Wildberries and Ozon, to the Wildberries warehouse, adding: "Available footage shows smoke rising above the complex after the attack."^[40][39] While Ozon acknowledged that its facility in Zelenodolsk was temporarily evacuated during an air raid siren, but then resumed work and had not sustained any structural damage or employee injuries, Wildberries neither confirmed nor denied any drone strikes, merely saying that its Zelenodolsk facility was "operating normally".^[40] Reuters was able to verify one video of employees evacuating a blue-coloured Ozon complex, next to which smoke was rising, but concluded that "it was not clear on Friday [31 July] which of the warehouses Ukraine was targeting".^[41] It did note a cryptic message posted by USF Commander Robert "Magyar" Brovdi on Telegram that day, "the ozone concentration exceeds the critical norm," an apparent tongue-in-cheek reference to Ozon as the intended target,^[41] although the full quote revealed a mixture of Ozon and Wildberries references: "Ozone concentrations, against a backdrop of poor wild berry yields, exceed the critical threshold. The purple bush, pecked at by the Freedom-Loving Ukrainian Bird, is further poisoned by toxic ozone, turns into brushwood, changes colour and sheds its fruit."^[42] After a second, more damaging strike on 5 August,^[43] Wildberries announced that its Zelenodolsk warehouse stopped accepting new shipments and making deliveries, effectively ceasing operations.^[44] Meanwhile, no Ozon warehouse had yet sustained any damage as of 5 August, although it did suffer from some of the same indirect effects as Wildberries: evacuations, suspended operations, delayed deliveries, and somewhat frightened personnel.^[45] Already by 26 July 2026, Ozon and Yandex Market had updated their terms and conditions (effective from 8 August 2026) to abandon their obligation to compensate sellers if their goods were damaged or lost as a result of military action, including drone strikes, under the heading of force majeure, just as Wildberries had done on 11 July 2026.^[46]

August 2026

On 2 August, a Wildberries warehouse was struck by the Ukrainian forces in Novosemeykino, Samara Oblast.^[47]
The next day, 3 August, one of the largest Wildberries warehouse in the country was hit in Khryastovo in the Sobinsky District of Vladimir Oblast.^[48][47] That same day, investigative news service Vyorstka estimated that the 14 Wildberries warehouses attacked so far covered over 1.5 million square metres of facility space taken out of operation, or about 27% of the Wildberries' total warehouse space.^[11]

On 4 August, video footage analysed by Astra showed smoke rising above an industrial zone in Krasny Bor, Tosnensky District, Leningrad Oblast containing a large Wildberries warehouse (154,000 m²) and a smaller Lenta warehouse (70,000 m²), although it was initially unclear which one was apparently hit.^[49] According to Meduza, the Wildberries warehouse was attacked, which the company said was evacuated in advance, and no one was injured; in addition, at least "one of the drones crashed" at the Lenta warehouse, injuring one employee.^[50] The oblast governor claimed 17 drones had been shot down, and confirmed that an open fire that had been raging at the Wildberries warehouse had been extinguished.^[51] Meanwhile, Lenta confirmed that a fire at its warehouse had been extinguished, and that a forklift driver had suffered burns and was hospitalised.^[51] The same day, a drone strike on an unidentified warehouse in Chekhov, Moscow Oblast was reportedly hit with a fire, five deaths and ten injuries as a result, although the warehouse's company was not specified by the authorities.^[51][47]

Various reports on 4 to 6 August, and again on 16 August, claimed attacks on the 77,000 m² Wildberries warehouse in Emmaus, Kalininsky District of Tver Oblast; these strikes were partially confirmed, but the fires were quickly extinguished and only resulted in minor damage to its outer walls, and the warehouse resumed its operations each time.^{[52][53][54][55]}

On 5 August, Ukrainian drones hit another Wildberries warehouse in Aleksin, Tula Oblast.^[56]

On 10–11 August, the Wildberries warehouse in Novousmansky District of Voronezh Oblast^[a] was hit once again.^[57] On the night of 13 August, the Wildberries warehouse in the Chishminsky District of Bashkortostan was counted by the Radio Svoboda edition in Russian as the 21st hit by Ukrainian strikes since the attacks began on 18 July 2026.^[58]

On 15–16 August, multiple Wildberries warehouses in Moscow Oblast were attacked. Several resulted in large fires destroying building and stored merchandise including Russia's largest Wildberries logistics warehouse (at 250,000 m²) at Koledino in the Podolsky District of southern Moscow, as well as the Severnoye (northern) Domodedovo multimodal logistics complex.^[59] Russian sources claimed that nearly 200 drones were intercepted.^[60][61][62] Satellite imagery from the next day revealed that the northern building of the Wildberries warehouse in Koledino had been thoroughly destroyed by the fire.^[63]

On 18 August, Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries logistics centre in near Atlant-Park in Obukhovo, Noginsky District, Moscow Oblast, according to Andrey Vorobyov, Governor of Moscow Oblast.^[64] In October 2025, Wildberries had reached an agreement with the owner of the logistics park to lease 110,000 square metres of space there.^[65] Wildberries confirmed the August 2026 attack, although it said only minor damage to the building's wall was done, and no goods were damaged.^[64]

On 22 August 2026, the first attack on a warehouse of Ozon, the main competitor of Wildberries, took place in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast.^[2] The strike resulted in injuries, and compelled the warehouse to suspend operations.^[2] The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence confirmed it had targeted Ozon deliberately: "Systematic strikes on storage centres for dual-use goods are making it more difficult for the enemy to operate and are negatively impacting the overall economy of Russia. After Ukrainian units targeted 15 of the largest logistics hubs belonging to Wildberries, it was Ozon's turn."^[66] The next day, a second Ozon warehouse was damaged by a drone strike in Orenburg, forcing it to evacuate over 300 employees, suspend all warehouse deliveries, and hide the goods stored there from its marketplace storefront.^[67] Also on 23 August, a warehouse of Logistera (Логистера) was hit in the Izhora industrial zone of Kolpino, a suburb of Saint Petersburg.^[67]

In the night of 23–24 August, three more Ozon warehouses in Southern Russia were apparently targeted: in Enem, Adygea (about 10 kilometres south of Krasnodar city^[68]); in Tyube, Dagestan; and in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai.^[68][69][70] Contrary to some reports,^[70][69] no Ozon warehouse was apparently hit in Krasnodar Krai,^[68] although the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that three teenagers were killed following a Ukrainian drone strike in Krasnodar Krai, and Maria Lvova-Belova (Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia) added six other children were hospitalised.^[70][69] According to local Russian officials, debris from Ukrainian drones shot down by Russian air defences crashed into a private children's centre.^[70][71] That incident more likely happened in connection to a drone strike on a Kuchenland Home warehouse on 24/8 Krugovaya Street in Krasnodar, as geolocated by Astra Press.^[72]

On 26 August, Kyiv struck the Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk, Tambov Oblast once again.^[73] According to governor Yevgeny Pervyshov, 'the fire completely destroyed the Wildberries logistics centre.'^[74]

On 27 August, Ukrainian drones reportedly did minor damage to an Ozon warehouse near Ufa, which was temporarily closed for inspections.^[75][76] Based on footage gathered by Exilenova+, Militarnyi concluded the warehouse was located in Blagoveshchensk, Bashkortostan, some 40 kilometres north of Ufa, and that the warehouse was on fire, despite Ozon saying the damage was "minor" and customers should continue placing orders as usual.^[77] The same day, the Ozon Orenburg warehouse was evacuated, but (unlike on 22 August) reportedly not hit, and resumed operations shortly after the evacuation on 27 August.^[75][76]

List of strikes

There are two main types of Wildberries (WB) facilities, commonly called warehouses (склады, sklady), targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes:

• distribution centres (распределительные центры (РЦ), raspredelitel'nye tsentry (RTs), 'distribution centres (DCs)') for long-term regional storage; and
• logistics centres (сортировочныйе центры (СЦ), sortirovochnyye tsentry (STs), 'sorting centres (SCs)') for rapid sorting and local delivery.

Several non-Wildberries facilities have reportedly also been struck, presumably either deliberately (such as that of competitors Ozon^[67] and Lenta^[51]) or accidentally, due to being in the vicinity of a Wildberries warehouse.^[31]

Notes

Wildberries and civilians

Losses and compensation issues

Russians posted dozens of videos on social media with footage of the strikes and the aftermath, and their reactions to them.^[1] Some people living close by filmed burning warehouses with columns of thick smoke rising from them.^[1] Entrepreneurs who use Wildberries to sell goods broke down in tears while filming themselves, explaining that the fire at Wildberries depots had destroyed their merchandise, businesses, and sometimes even their last sources of income.^{[1][3]: 6:18–8:51} By the end of July 2026, at least nine people were killed and dozens of people were injured as a result of the attacks, primarily Wildberries employees; the company had paid the victims or their loved ones about 0.5 million euros in damages.^{[3]: 9:45–9:57} However, entrepreneurs who suffered material losses were unlikely to receive financial compensation, as Wildberries did not have enough cashflow to pay for it, and because of the terms and conditions that were updated on 11 July 2026, just a few days prior to the first attacks, in which damages from drone strikes were excluded from the list of scenarios for which Wildberries could be held liable.^{[3]: 9:57–10:45}

At the end of July 2026, Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim made the following statement in a video recording:

Terrorist attacks on our warehouses are force majeure circumstances. Whether or not this clause is included in the offer is irrelevant, and therefore these losses are not subject to compensation by law. Unfortunately, the internet has become rife with scammers and lawyers who seek to profit from our common misfortunes, exploiting the situation and people's ignorance to offer their services to solve problems. That's why I'm reaching out to all our sellers. Dear partners, trust only the official communication channels of our company and the government. In the current situation, only we and the government can help you.

— Tatyana Kim, Wildberries CEO^[96]

In early August, satellite imagery analysed by Reuters 'found that at least 1.18 million square metres of Wildberries warehouse space, equivalent to one-fifth of the company's storage capacity has either been damaged or destroyed.'^[97]

Every morning it's terrifying to open the news. People are losing everything. There are probably many people who were injured in the warehouse fires as well. It's horrifying.

— Russian small business owner,
working with Wildberries (early August 2026)^[98]

According to investigative journalistic platform Vyorstka on 7 August, Wildberries sales of six selected categories of military products – ‘Body armour’, “Copters”, ‘Quadcopter accessories’, ‘Weapon accessories’, ‘Night-vision devices’ and ‘Hunting scopes’ – dropped between 20% and 40% between 18 and 31 July 2026.^[20] Before the Ukrainian strikes on the warehouses began, these items were all commonly found in the section "Всё для СВО" ("Everything for the Special military operation").^[20] After the initial strikes, this section was quietly eliminated, but all the products in it continued to be sold under different categories.^[20] Despite the reduction in sales, these six categories combined still represented at least 31,500 military and dual-use products, of which worth more than 1.5 billion rubles were sold in the months of May, June and July 2026 alone.^[20] The "Body Armour" category alone represented about 3,000 products (with labels such as "military" and "tactical"), for which sales totalled 472 million rubles in the same three-month period, although the number of orders decreased by 24% after the strikes began.^[20] Sales in the "Quadcopter accessories" category, totalling 118 million rubles in May–July 2026, fell by 36%.^[20]

On 12 August, Kommersant reported that advertisement tracking company Digital Budget said spending on direct banner advertisements on Wildberries fell by 63% from June to July, whilst the average advertising prices decreased by up to 15% as product availability declined.^[99] The same day, the Association of Suppliers of Goods for E-Commerce Platforms based in Russia stated that over than 400,000 sellers had been affected by the strikes on the warehouses of Wildberries (with some using up to 95% of their inventory), estimating the total losses at c. 600~700 billion Russian rubles (c. 6~7 billion US dollars, or c. 5.6 billion euros), including lost revenue.^[100] Costs for rebuilding or repairing all destroyed and damaged Wildberries structuries was estimated between 147 and 223 billion rubles (c. 1.7~2.6 billion US dollars, or c. 1.47~2.25 billion euros).^[100]

Solvency issues

Ukrainian military expert Ivan Stupak said on 1 August 2026: "If no one prevents us from attacking Wildberries at this rate, it will go bankrupt before the end of the year."^{[3]: 4:35–4:43} He estimated that the Wildberries strikes had about 40% military importance for targeting materiel stored there that is needed at the front, and about 60% political importance to increase domestic pressure on Russia's president Vladimir Putin, via Russian politicians, their business associates and the general public being affected by material losses.^{[3]: 6:00–6:18, 9:17–9:30 [101]} On the other hand, it might prove difficult to demonstrate under international law that the presence of military equipment in these warehouses, and their use by the Russian military for use against Ukraine, was sufficient to justify what would otherwise be considered non-military targets, risking and causing civilian casualties in the process.^{[3]: 13:35–14:21} Moreover, there was a risk that the overall response of the civilian population would not be to put Putin under pressure to end the war, but support him in escalating his military aggression against Ukraine.^{[3]: 14:21–1539} There is anecdotal evidence for both attitudes towards the Kremlin amongst the Russian population in response to Ukraine's Wildberries strikes: while some Russians focus on punishing Ukraine as the culprit, others demand the Russian state to compensate them for their financial losses if Wildberries does not pay up.^{[3]: 14:21–15:39}

In June 2026, a month before the first strike, Russia's second-largest state-owned bank VTB Bank acquired a stake of 5% in Wildberries' WB Bank, with an option to buy more shares later.^[102] By late July 2026, the possibility and willingness of VTB Bank to lend support to Wildberries was questioned, leading VTB shares to fall 2.5% on 25 July.^[102] Although Wildberries' reported debt at 830 billion roubles ($10.58 billion) according to Russian accounting standards is relatively low compared to other megacorporations in the country, it could still fall apart if VTB would prove unable or unwilling to bail the warehouse chain out.^[102] On the other hand, if VTB does decide to try and help Wildberries out, these additional debts would add to the financial troubles that VTB Bank was already facing (as reported by Bloomberg News in August 2025^[103]) long before the Wildberries strikes began, potentially dragging other troubled Russian banks down with it.^[101] On 27 July, Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilerman added that Wildberries' partnership with the Russian state-controlled VTB Bank made it a prime strategic target; since Wildberries was the "largest borrower in Russia", its crash would result in several banks (including VTB) collapsing.^[102][104]

By 10 August, major Russian lenders including Sberbank, VTB Bank, and Wildberries Bank, had declared their willingess to offer debt restructuring and write-off schemes to affected sellers and partners, and the Central Bank of Russia was encouraging them to do so; Sberbank said it had already received about 2,000 applications for loan restructuring for submitted by impacted business owners.^[105] Both Sberbank and VTB had heavily invested in Wildberries, were majority-state-owned, and the banking system of Russia was already in a crisis by the standards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the general economy of Russia was "already in, or on the brink of, a recession and weighed down by Western sanctions and by funding the prolonged war."^[98] Many analysts thought the Kremlin could probably not afford bailing Sberbank and VTB out in case Wildberries collapsed completely.^[98]

Logistical information ban

On 17 August, Wildberries announced that it would remove all public information about warehouse addresses, schemes for sorting and storing goods, and construction of new logistics facilities and their planned areas of operation, for better physical security against drone strikes, employer and employee privacy, and cybersecurity.^[108] By that time, the company had already largely removed all data relating to its warehouse addresses on Google Maps, Yandex Maps, Yandex.Navigator and 2GIS.^[108] The Wildberries pickup point map would remain accessible to customers and partners.^[108]

Ozon

After five Ozon warehouses were struck by Ukrainian drones on 22–24 August 2026, Ozon shares dropped by 27%, the lowest level since August 2023.^[115] More broadly, Ozon had lost 47% of its overall value since the start of the year 2026.^[115] Ozon said its warehouses in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk were only evacuated, and the facilities and goods inside were undamaged,^[115] whereas Ukraine claimed the Nevinnomyssk facility had been struck.^[68]

Russia

Ever since the Wildberries strikes began, journalists and analysts observed an uptick in Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as well.^[116] The Kyiv Post listed "leading supermarket chains, warehouses belonging to the major retail chains Rozetka and Epicentr, warehouses of the Novus and Silpo supermarket chains, as well as storage facilities belonging to many well-known brands", as examples amongst those damaged in a single massive Russian attack on the night of 5 August 2026 on the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.^[116] Although the Kremlin framed such attacks as "responding" to, or "retaliation" for, Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries warehouses, the Kyiv Post argued that Russia had been attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine fairly indiscriminately since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, whereas the Ukrainian military had avoided targeting "commercial infrastructure [in Russia until] less than a year ago", namely in spring 2026, by which time it had become clear that nominally civilian infrastructure such as Wildberries warehouses had become actively used for military and dual-use purposes in the war-effort against Ukraine.^[116] The Post conceded that the deep strike campaign against Russia's oil refineries began somewhat earlier, in 2024, as oil refining infrastructure was more clearly tied to military logistics.^[116]

On 19 August 2026, Putin ordered the government to launch a state programme of rebuilding ommercial warehouses that were damaged or destroyed by Ukrainian drone strikes.^[117] Although he did not mention Wildberries specifically, this has been taken as direct state intervention in repair and reconstruction efforts of Wilberries warehouses.^[117]

Ukraine

On 4 August, Zelenskyy renewed the 40-day influence operation announced on 25 June to push Russia toward ending the war.^[5] UATV had reported that the 40-day operation had to date damaged 80% of Wildberries logistics centres and that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had acknowledged the 40-day operation by saying "long-range strikes by Ukraine's armed forces have changed the dynamics of the war."^[6]