Ukrainian drones have struck multiple warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, in a series of escalating attacks over several days, killing at least eight people, injuring dozens more, and destroying an estimated $1 billion worth of goods. The strikes hit facilities near Moscow and in the Tambov, Krasnodar, and Stavropol regions of southern Russia, knocking out roughly 7% of Wildberries' total storage capacity and forcing the suspension of operations at affected sites.

Kyiv confirmed the strikes and stated that the warehouses were legitimate military targets, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Wildberries of storing components for Russian drone production, navigation equipment, and other military supplies. Russia's Kremlin spokesman denied that the warehouses were used for military logistics, calling the strikes attacks on civilian infrastructure. The raids represent a broadening of Ukraine's long-range drone campaign, which has previously focused on oil refineries, fuel depots, and ammunition storage, and now reaches commercial logistics hubs more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line. In a separate development on the same night, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim — widely described as Russia's wealthiest woman — said 15 people were injured in strikes on the Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk facilities, and that regional authorities had declared a local state of emergency.

Wildberries operates not as a direct retailer, in the manner of Amazon, but almost entirely as a marketplace: independent sellers send their stock to Wildberries warehouses, and the company handles storage, delivery, and payments. This model means the financial losses from the attacks have fallen heavily on small and medium-sized businesses rather than on the company itself. Sellers described losing millions of roubles of stock with little prospect of compensation; notably, a force majeure clause covering drone attacks had been quietly added to seller contracts less than two weeks before the first strike. Kim has promised not to abandon sellers and has offered some compensation along with waived fees, but many traders say the assurances have done little to ease their fears.

The strikes land at a particularly vulnerable moment for Russian small businesses. VAT rose from 20% to 22% in January, tax breaks have been scrapped, and fuel shortages triggered by earlier Ukrainian strikes on refineries have added further pressure. Some 209,000 small and medium-sized companies closed in the first quarter of 2026, 9% more than in the same period of 2025, according to business intelligence platform Kontur.Fokus. Wildberries itself has also attracted scrutiny over its political ties: in 2024, Kim orchestrated a merger with outdoor advertising firm Russ Group in a deal endorsed by President Vladimir Putin, and the combined entity was presented to the Kremlin as the basis for a rouble-based digital payment platform designed to bypass Western financial systems.

The attacks underscore Ukraine's stated strategy of imposing growing economic costs on Russia to force a diplomatic settlement. "We are bringing the war back home, to Russia," Zelenskyy wrote on social media. For hundreds of Russian sellers who depend on platforms like Wildberries for their income, the conflict, now in its fifth year, is becoming harder to ignore. As one academic observer noted, each successive blow to Russia's civilian economy is "another nail in the coffin" for businesses already stretched by sanctions, inflation, and wartime austerity.