This photo shows smoke rising from a fire at Russian e-commerce company Wildberries’ logistics complex in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026.
Tatyana Makeyeva Afp | Getty Images
Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russia Amazon– Wildberries retail style, signaling a new phase in the war as Kyiv seeks to inflict new pain on the Russian economy.
The Defense Forces of Ukraine hit major transportation facilities on Russian territory last week, including five Wildberries locations in the period from Saturday to Wednesday.
The attack, which follows months of drone strikes on oil storage facilities and oil refineries, appears designed to severely disrupt Moscow’s supply chain and increase the financial burden on businesses and the country’s budget.
Wildberry is Russia’s largest online retailer and is the equivalent of US e-commerce giant Amazon. The company was founded in 2004, and currently employs about 48,000 people.
“Ukraine has found a new pressure point to confront Russia,” Jimmy Rushton, an independent foreign policy analyst based in Ukraine, said Wednesday on social media.
“If this attack continues, ‘Berries’ (Russia is Amazon’s equivalent and is as important in its domestic behavior as Amazon is in the US or the UK), will disappear,” he added.
The owner of the company and the richest woman in Russia, Tatyana Kim said on Wednesday that the transportation facilities under Wildberries in the two cities of the southwestern region of Krasnodar and Stavropol were both hit overnight.
One person was killed in the attack, Kim said, and many others were reported injured. The strikes follow separate attacks on warehouses in central Russia four days ago, which killed eight people, according to Russian authorities.
“There are no words to describe all the emotions and feelings caused by the attack on ordinary people, on our employees, on us, doing our jobs,” Kim said via Telegram, according to the translation.
“But these situations show something very important: we must continue to do what we do for the benefit of the people,” he added.
Logistics hubs may remain an important target
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the hubs targeted by Ukrainian drones were involved in supplying Russian forces with drone parts, navigation equipment and other military equipment.
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center think tank based in Kyiv, said the Wildberries strikes serve two purposes: disrupting Russia’s economy and reducing the strength of its military industries.
“The destruction of this transportation infrastructure is very damaging to the Russian economy and, as a result, to its state budget, which is funding the violence against Ukraine,” Kuzan told CNBC in an email.
In this water photo released by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Moscow-appointed leader of the Russian-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 20, 2026.
Alexander Kazakov Afp | Getty Images
Berries play a major role in Russia’s e-commerce sector, and the retailer’s market alone accounts for about 3% of Russia’s gross domestic product, Kuzan said, citing data from the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He estimated that the total loss of Wildberries had reached about $ 2.3 billion, noting that the total amount of this loss exceeds the combined annual budget of 53 Russian regions, which may have caused a wave of bankruptcy among small and medium enterprises.
“Given the size of the targeted institutions and their role in supplying the military and military industries, it can be assumed that this strategy will continue,” said Kuzan.
“It allows Ukraine to inflict heavy economic losses on the enemy with limited resources,” he added.
