On the night of August 16, Ukraine carried out a drone strike on the largest logistics center of the Russian marketplace Wildberries in Kol’yadino near Moscow. This is the seventh out of ten large logistics centers of this company that has been hit by Ukrainian UAVs.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that after a massive drone attack on the Moscow region, together with the warehouse in Domodedovo, the logistics hub of Wildberries in the industrial park “Kol’yadino” also ceased operations. It was the largest warehouse by area – 250,000 square meters.
“Russian logistics acutely feels the consequences of the war that the Russian Federation has brought to Ukraine,” the ministry’s statement said.
The Ukrainian company Fire Point, in turn, stated that the strike was carried out by its FP-1 drones. In the company’s statement, it was mentioned that Wildberries warehouses were used, among other things, for Russia’s military needs.
“The object is used for storing, sorting, and distributing dual-use goods,” it stated.
Wildberries is the largest Russian online retailer and marketplace where clothing, footwear, electronics, home goods, and more are sold.
Strike on business and the collapse of the “pyramid”
The Ukrainian army has been attacking Wildberries sites since July 18. At that time, drones attacked two warehouses of the largest Russian marketplace in Elektrostal near Moscow and near Tambov.
Since then, dozens of Wildberries warehouses in various regions of Russia have been hit.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the “large logistics objects” in Russia that were hit were used for “supplying sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment.”
Wildberries is often called the Russian equivalent of Amazon. The combined RWB group, which includes Wildberries along with the advertising company Russ, was valued by Forbes Russia in 2026 at approximately 12.6 billion dollars.
Serhiy Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, told the BBC that Wildberries is a “vital component” of Russian logistics and that this website was used by Russian volunteers to purchase military equipment, including radios, body armor, and drone components.
“The primary justification for the strikes on Wildberries warehouses is the disruption of Russian logistics and the supply of dual-use goods, critical electronics, sanctioned goods, etc., to the Russian army and arms manufacturers,” he noted.
“Collateral damage from such strikes can also have a serious impact on the Russian economy, as well as a psychological effect on Russian society and, potentially, on further support for the war.”
According to economist Ruben Enikolopov, the attack on Wildberries warehouses was a blow to Russian small and medium-sized businesses, which were already under pressure from a series of systemic shocks.
The destruction of key infrastructure will force marketplaces to decentralize warehouses and factor new threats into costs. As the expert emphasizes, if such attacks become systematic, additional expenses on logistics and security will inevitably lead to another price surge for consumers.
The Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service claims that the series of attacks on Wildberries warehouses led to the “collapse of the business model of Russia’s largest marketplace, which annually sold goods worth equivalent to 3% of the national GDP.”
According to the SFI, the direct losses to the company could exceed 100 billion rubles or even reach 200 billion rubles.
The total funding requirement for Wildberries is estimated at 1.3 trillion rubles, according to intelligence without disclosing the sources of this information.
“Sellers are leaving the platform en masse, instantly losing business and goods worth hundreds of billions of rubles, so the marketplace’s turnover has already decreased by at least a quarter. This hit not only current figures but also effectively undermined the financial pyramid that the company’s owner, Tatyana Kim, had been building for years,” the SVR statement said.
The “pyramid” pointed out by Ukrainian intelligence is related to the specifics of the Wildberries marketplace’s operations: the company receives money from the buyer immediately, but only transfers it to the seller after a few weeks.
During this time, the funds remain in the company’s working capital and finance current expenses and discounts. However, when accumulated expenses are no longer covered by the inflow of new money, the company increases its losses.
“The marketplace’s turnover continues to fall, and this is only the beginning of a prolonged decline: after such a blow, the company will remain loss-making for years to come,” the SVR message states.
On the cover: Fire at the Wildberries logistics hub in Koledino on August 16. Photo: Fire Point
