Wildberries may be little known in the West, but in Russia it is an e-commerce powerhouse with a reach that touches millions of consumers.
Founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Tatyana Kim, the online retailer controls roughly one-third of Russia’s e-commerce market.
E-commerce now accounts for just over 8% of Russia’s GDP, a share comparable to that of several major European economies.
Accounts of Ms Kim launching Wildberries from her apartment outside Moscow have drawn comparisons with Amazon and Jeff Bezos, who began building his company from a garage in Seattle in the mid-1990s.
In 2025, Wildberries increased its turnover in Russia and other countries by nearly 50% from the previous year, according to Interfax, the Russian news agency. The company also operates in several former Soviet republics.
But 2026 is shaping up to be a far more difficult year for the retailer.
Since 18 July, at least 20 Wildberries warehouses, most of them in southern and western Russia, have been hit by Ukrainian drones.
The attacks have triggered fires and destroyed substantial quantities of goods stored at the facilities.
A Reuters review of satellite imagery published this week found that at least 1.18 million square metres of Wildberries warehouse space — about one-fifth of its total storage capacity — had been damaged or destroyed.
Russian authorities say eight people were killed at two Wildberries locations.
Another five people were reportedly killed this week in a drone strike on an unidentified warehouse near Moscow.
Tatyana Kim’s company is estimated to be worth more than €7bn and she is Russia’s wealthiest woman
Wildberries offers clothing, furniture and the broad range of everyday goods typically associated with a major online marketplace. In that sense, it resembles Amazon.
Its catalogue, however, also includes small commercial drones, night-vision equipment and military clothing, including protective body armour.
Ukraine says it is targeting Wildberries logistics centres because the company helps supply Russia’s armed forces, including by providing sanctioned components used in drone production.
A search for a DJI Mavic 3 — a consumer drone used extensively by both Russian and Ukrainian forces for reconnaissance on the front line — shows the aircraft listed on Wildberries for about €2,500, or 244,000 roubles.
Oleksandr Kraiev, a Ukrainian foreign-policy expert, said the strikes were intended to prevent Russian companies and the government from “acquiring sanctioned goods that are still flowing through these e-commerce operations”.
“It is just putting more pressure on the Russian economy in order to make it unsustainable and to make Russian military operations unsustainable, and to create a situation where negotiations are the only option for Russians,” said Mr Kraiev, of Ukrainian Prism, a Kyiv-based thinktank.
Ms Kim has described the attacks on Wildberries as “acts of terrorism”. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has accused Kyiv of targeting Russia’s civilian economy — a claim that Ukraine rejects, pointing to Russia’s bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities and the destruction of businesses and civilian infrastructure over the past four and a half years.
Wildberries has not disclosed how much the drone attacks have cost its business. The damage is likely to extend beyond destroyed buildings and merchandise, with disrupted logistics also threatening online sales.
Reports of ruined stock and delayed deliveries could push regular Wildberries customers towards competing platforms while the attacks on its warehouses continue.
A Russian analytical firm’s estimate, reported by Forbes Russia, places the losses suffered by online retailers selling through Wildberries at between €2.2bn and €3bn, or 215bn to 280bn roubles.
If estimates of the damage to Wildberries warehouses and inventory are broadly accurate, the strikes could inflict a significant economic cost on Russia relative to the expense of carrying them out. One of Ukraine’s principal long-range drones, the FP-1, costs no more than about €60,000 to produce.
The campaign against Wildberries and other industrial sites outside Russian cities forms part of Ukraine’s wider effort to hit critical elements of the Russian economy. Kyiv has also intensified attacks on oil depots and refineries since May.
Strikes on fuel depots forced motorists to wait for hours to buy petrol earlier this month, while continued attacks are putting further pressure on Russia’s oil-export revenues.
For Russia’s e-commerce sector, the disruption has meant lost income for sellers and late deliveries for consumers — consequences that can deepen public frustration.
“I don’t see any clear reason for Ukraine to stop such strikes,” Mr Kraiev said.
“The idea is not only to drain the Russian economy out of resources, but we can also use it as a negotiating tool on our side.”
Vantor satellite image shows extensive fire damage to the Wildberries warehouse in Krasnodar following a strike last month
Ukraine’s focus on Russia’s economic infrastructure appears to reflect several developments: the success of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, in hitting strategic Russian sites deep inside the country over the past two years, and former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s push to expand long-range drone production and investment in deep-strike capabilities.
Mr Fedorov was dismissed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in mid-July after a dispute with the former head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Kyiv’s long-range campaign, however, has continued.
There could be a straightforward reason for that.
Late last month, Ukrainian and US officials were reported to have discussed an air ceasefire as part of an effort to revive a stalled peace initiative.
By continuing to disrupt and drain the Russian economy through attacks such as those against Wildberries, Kyiv may ultimately hope to persuade Moscow to consider the proposed air ceasefire.
That is the calculation behind the strategy.
The attacks on Wildberries bring the war into the daily lives of ordinary Russians by disturbing the routines and supply networks on which the country’s economy depends.
Yet Kyiv’s broader objective in striking the e-commerce giant, as with Russia’s oil industry, is to build leverage for any future negotiations.
