Wildberries, which is widely referenced as 'Russia's Amazon', has seen four of its top ten distribution hubs attacked by Ukrainian long-range drones in only a matter of days, potentially putting their business operations in doubt.
Stunning footage is widely circulating Wednesday of some of the latest attacks, which came overnight. A large fire broke out in the outskirts of Krasnodar in southern Russia at a sprawling Wildberries warehouse.
Regional media has cited several separate fires in the area, before which witnesses reported hearing some 20 to 30 explosions across the city and its outskirts.
Another key logistics hub for Wildberries, which is far and away the country's biggest online retailer, was also hit in the Stavropol region overnight, resulting in the urgent evacuation of employees.
Four days prior, the company's warehouses in central Russia were struck, which killed eight people. In the face of the Krelmin calling the attacks acts of terrorism and war crimes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that the hubs were "involved in providing the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear."
Massive fire rages in Krasnodar, Russia overnight:
The regional anti-Kremlin publication Meduza has tallied the size of the huge hubs hit and damaged in the following:
The Ukrainian military’s strike hit two Wildberries warehouses: one in Elektrostal, outside Moscow — a 250,000-square-meter (2.7-million-square-foot) facility and one of the company’s largest logistics centers — and another in Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, a 108,000-square-meter (1.2-million-square-foot) warehouse that opened only last year.
Experts estimate the Elektrostal and Kotovsk warehouses accounted for 6.5% to 9% of Wildberries’ total warehouse space. Losing them won’t paralyze the marketplace’s operations, though it could strain its logistics network. Customers are unlikely to see significantly longer delivery times, since Wildberries operates numerous sorting centers that let it reroute shipments quickly.
And additionally of note:
Wildberries isn’t formally required to compensate sellers for the damage. On July 7 — 11 days before the attack — the company changed its contract terms with sellers, exempting itself from liability for “force majeure circumstances,” a category that now includes drone attacks.
The Kremlin will no doubt take the ongoing threat and targeting of Wildberries' hubs very seriously. Reuters has reviewed that "Together with smaller rivals, Wildberries and Ozon sell goods and services worth the equivalent of 8.5% of Russia's gross domestic product. They provide jobs for 4 million people, or more than 5% of the country's workforce."
"The firms are central to the Kremlin's plans to reinvigorate growth in a stagnating, war-focused economy," Reuters continues. "President Vladimir Putin's top man on the economy, Maxim Oreshkin, has been personally tasked with overseeing the sector."
Russia has in turn also been striking some major manufacturing centers inside Ukraine, claiming that these sites are have dual civilian-military purposes, such as for drone or aircraft component production.