Why Ukraine is attacking Russia's largest online retailer

Ukrainian armed forces are gradually destroying the infrastructure of Wildberries, Russia's largest online trading platform. Over the past two weeks, the company's important facilities have been targeted by drone attacks. As of August 3, 12 of the online retailer's 15 largest warehouses in different regions had been hit. Seven of them have not yet resumed operations, reports the independent Russian investigative portal Agentstvo.

It is estimated that Wildberries may have lost at least 15 percent of its storage capacity, or 860.000 square meters. Among other things, the largest logistics center in Elektrostal, near Moscow, was completely destroyed. It not only supplied a significant region around the Russian capital, but also served as an important transshipment hub for goods from China.

Experts estimate that the restoration and repair of all the damage will cost at least 60 billion rubles (about 650 million euros). This is approximately a third of Wildberries' annual profit. Even more serious is the damage to entrepreneurs who stored goods in damaged logistics centers. According to experts, it amounts to almost 300 billion rubles (about 3,3 billion euros). However, Wildberries is not responsible for this. The company has provided for such provisions in contracts with its business partners.

Wildberries is the "Russian Amazon"

Wildberries is often called the “Russian Amazon.” Like Amazon, Russia’s largest online shopping platform is a place where anyone can offer their products – from individual entrepreneurs and individual businesses to large companies. The slightly smaller platform Ozon competes with Wildberries in the Russian market. Both platforms have a more significant place among Russian consumers than Amazon has among American or European consumers.

According to data from the analytics firm Marketplace Pulse, Amazon has a slightly less than 36 percent share of the US e-commerce market. Amazon has no competitors of comparable size. Wildberries' share of the Russian market, according to the Kommersant daily, citing the Russian research institute Euler, is 45 percent. Ozon holds 32 percent of the market. Thus, just two portals, excluding the much smaller Yandex Market and Cooper, control almost 80 percent of the Russian market.

Why is Ukraine attacking Wildberries?

After the first attacks in late July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the affected warehouses on social media “logistics centers that participate in supplying the Russian military with drone components, navigation devices and equipment.” The Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “this is not true.” However, this is at odds with reality. Such goods are available on this trading platform and can be easily found using the search function.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told DW in an interview that disrupting the supply of the front was one of the goals of the attack on Russia's largest online trading platform, but that there were other goals as well. Damaging "a company with a turnover of 6,2 trillion rubles (about 67 billion euros)," according to Podoliak, would also hit its creditors, including major banks such as Sberbank, VTB and Alfa Bank. This could lead to a "dramatic emptying" of the state budget. Wildberrys itself states that its turnover in 2025 was 6,1 trillion rubles.

Podoljak believes that the warehouse fires will further cause dissatisfaction among the population. Many people who had nothing to do with politics and only wanted to earn money, at one point lost everything. Their opportunities that they would have had in their country if it were not at war have also disappeared.

The destruction of Wildberries, according to Podoljak, should also be a signal to the elites. Among the beneficiaries of the company's business are not only the Kremlin-friendly businessman Suleiman Kerimov, who has already been extensively covered by the Russian media, but also officials of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino and Alexei Gromov. There have been no previous reports about their possible connections with Wildberries.

An ideal target for Ukrainian attacks?

The business volume of Wildberries and its main competitor Ozon is truly enormous. Observers believe that Wildberries’ estimated turnover, or the total value of goods sold and services provided, is somewhat overstated. However, it is in the billions of rubles. Ozon, as a publicly traded company, publishes audited annual financial statements. Its turnover in 2025 amounted to 4,16 trillion rubles (about 45 billion euros).

Online trading platforms have boomed since Moscow's military invasion of Ukraine. Due to Western sanctions, but also their own decisions, many well-known companies left Russia. The Russian authorities then allowed so-called parallel imports, i.e. the import of goods without the consent of the rights holders. Clothing, electronic devices, household appliances and beauty products from well-known manufacturers thus became available again in stores and online. Online retailers offered them at significantly lower prices, which led to a sharp increase in their turnover. Wildberries' turnover in 2025 was seven times higher than in 2021.

Ukraine, by all accounts, considers Wildberries an ideal target for drone attacks. Unlike Ozone, this company has opted to build huge logistics centers. They are easy to hit and burn intensely. The largest warehouses cover an area of ​​several dozen football fields.

In addition, the company has accumulated huge debts, so it is uncertain whether it will be able to service them. The report for 2025 states that it partially violated its obligations to creditors, who did not demand early repayment of debts.

The parent company of the internet platform alone had short-term liabilities of 802 billion rubles (8,6 billion euros) at the end of 2025, which increased eightfold within a year, as well as long-term liabilities of 28 billion rubles (about 303 million euros). According to Russian media, the main creditor is VTB Bank.

Taras Skvortsov, a senior manager at state-owned Sberbank, another major creditor of Wildberries, said the bank was “considering increasing provisions” for approved loans – provisions are money a bank sets aside from its profits to cover possible future losses if a client defaults on a loan. In other words, it is preparing for the possibility that Wildberries will not be able to repay the loan under the originally agreed terms.

According to Reuters, Wildberries co-owner Tatyana Kim has asked the government for help. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “the government is monitoring the situation, a dialogue is underway, but no concrete decisions have been made on this matter yet.” Reuters sources assume that the rescue of Wildberries will be entrusted to VTB Bank. Wildberries recently concluded a “strategic partnership” with the bank.

Therefore, further attacks on the Wildberries pose a serious problem for them, and the scale of those problems will depend on how long the attacks continue.