Ukrainian military planners have expanded their strategic strike campaign deep inside Russian territory, systematically targeting the logistics infrastructure of Wildberries, Russia's dominant e-commerce retailer. In the past two weeks, at least ten of the firm's storage and distribution hubs have been hit by fixed-wing drones, sparking massive fires in the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, and occupied Crimea.
Economic Warfare Hits Russia's Digital Storefront
The campaign marks a calculated escalation aimed at disrupting the domestic consumer market. Wildberries, which reported roughly $73 billion in gross merchandise value last year, functions as Russia's equivalent to Amazon, acting as a critical intermediary for hundreds of thousands of small businesses. The firm has already lost over 9% of its warehouse capacity. Kyiv justifies the strikes by noting the platforms are used to traffic tactical gear and drone components, equipment directly fueling the ongoing conflict. The destruction, however, lands squarely on Russian merchants, with Forbes Russia estimating initial attacks alone cost individual business owners upwards of $1.87 billion in lost stock.
Financial Fallout on the Home Front
The pressure on the Russian financial system is immediately evident. State-controlled Sberbank confirmed that roughly 300 recipient firms that took out loans tied to Wildberries operations are now seeking payment deferrals. The bank is considering raising its cash reserves to cover potential defaults, a direct cost of the war being pushed onto Russia's domestic lending institutions. In an attempt to insulate its balance sheet, Wildberries quietly updated its compensation terms on July 7, classifying drone and missile hits as force majeure events. The policy shift leaves merchants, not the billionaire founder Tatyana Kim, liable for the total loss of their goods.
"The aggressor uses the entire economic system to sustain its military machine. The destruction of dual-use logistics is a necessary step to degrade that capacity," a Ukrainian defense official stated, speaking on condition of anonymity regarding ongoing operations.
Wildberries' parent group, RWB, reported a net profit of just $2.1 billion in 2025, a figure dwarfed by the potential cumulative liability from the strikes. With capacity crippled and insurance voided, the disruption serves to tighten economic pressure on the Russian population, raising the domestic cost of sustaining the war beyond military front lines.