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By Brendan Cole, John Feng, and Ellie Cook
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A map by Newsweek shows the scale of Ukrainian drone attacks on centers run by Wildberries, the online retailer that dominates Russia's domestic e-commerce and is considered the country's version of Amazon.
Wildberries delivers everything—whether it's clothing, electronics, groceries or household goods—and its importance has increased after many Western retailers left Russia following President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
At least 16 Wildberries warehouses in Russia or occupied territory in Ukraine have been struck since July 17.
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The latest target was a logistics site in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, with a fire breaking out at the facility in the early hours of Monday.
Wildberries said fire crews were at the scene and personnel had been evacuated, but no one was reported injured.
"Logistics chains have been reorganized, and deliveries and orders are being received and shipped at other facilities," Wildberries said in a statement.
Images shared on social media show smoke and damage at the company's warehouses. Newsweek has contacted Wildberries for comment.
Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, reported on July 23 that up to 10 percent of the retailer's logistics capacity, or 5.9 million square feet, had been damaged.
Following the strikes, Wildberries stopped displaying military-related goods, and it has removed tags online linked to the "special military operation," which is the Kremlin's term for Russia's war in Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported.
Ukraine says the warehouses support military logistics, a claim Moscow denies. The drone strikes signal a strategic shift in Ukraine's campaign against Russian commerce, bringing the war Putin started home to ordinary Russians.
Which Wildberries Sites Were Hit?
As Newsweek's map shows, the reach of the Ukrainian strikes inside Russia encompasses hundreds of miles.
On July 18, Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries logistics center in Kotovsk, a town in the Tambov region, which killed seven workers and injured about 25 others, according to the regional governor.
The same night, a strike hit Russia's largest Wildberries warehouse—in Elektrostal, a city in the Moscow region—injuring 24 people, according to reports.
The Russian Telegram channel Astra reported that smoke from the Moscow facilities could be seen more than 30 miles away.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes were a response to Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and that the Wildberries warehouses held components used to produce drones.
Russia has used similar tactics, striking sorting centers at Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service, and the courier firm Nova Poshta.
Ukrainian drones then struck Wildberries distribution centers in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions in southern Russia on July 22.
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Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said 10 people had been wounded in an attack on a "storage facility" without directly referring to Wildberries. He said one woman later died.
The governor of Voronezh said the roof of a warehouse belonging to an online marketplace had been damaged in the attack that also killed a 3-year-old boy.
Tatyana Kim, the founder of Wildberries, confirmed the attacks. With a net worth of $8.1 billion according to Forbes, Kim is Russia's richest woman.
A day later, Kim said three more warehouses had been attacked by Ukraine. They were in St. Petersburg, the surrounding Leningrad region and in Simferopol, the main city in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Video from the scene of the attacks in St. Petersburg and nearby showed thick smoke rising into the sky. St. Petersburg is more than 800 miles from Ukraine's border. As Putin's home city, it has rarely been hit during the war because of Russian air defenses.
"We managed to save some of the premises and goods. I would like to thank our staff, our heroes—a swift evacuation was carried out," Kim said in a statement.
Geolocated footage published on July 24 shows a fire at the parking lot of a Wildberries warehouse and logistics facility in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Sverdlovsk region, which is about 1,200 miles from Ukraine.
Fires also broke out at the Utkin Zavod logistics park south of St. Petersburg and at a separate facility in the Shushary district, both of which were suspended, according to Wildberries. Alexander Drozdenko, Leningrad's regional governor, said three people were hospitalized.
Since July 24, Ukraine has targeted at least nine Wildberries facilities, including a site in the southwestern Samara region on Sunday.
Wildberries, rival marketplace Ozon and other smaller rivals account for about 8.5 percent of Russia's gross domestic product while employing more than 5 percent of the country's workforce.
An online tracker built by Mark Krutov, of the Russian service at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, lists claimed and attempted strikes by Ukraine on more facilities.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick, John Feng and Shakeema Edwards.
Update 8/3/26, 4:55 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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