Wildberries may barely register with shoppers in the West, but inside Russia it has become a commercial giant — and now a target in Ukraine’s widening drone campaign.
Founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Tatyana Kim, the online retailer commands about one-third of Russia’s e-commerce market.
E-commerce makes up just over 8% of Russia’s GDP, a share comparable to that of several large European economies.
Ms Kim’s company is estimated to be worth more than €7bn, making her Russia’s wealthiest woman.
Her origin story — building the business from an apartment near Moscow — has often been likened to Amazon and Jeff Bezos, who launched his company from a garage in Seattle in the mid-1990s.
Wildberries’ growth has been rapid. In 2025, the company boosted turnover in Russia and abroad by nearly 50% from the prior year, Interfax, the Russian news agency, reported. The retailer also operates in a number of former Soviet republics.
That momentum now faces a major test.
Since 18 July, Ukrainian drones have struck at least 20 Wildberries warehouses, primarily in southern and western Russia.
The attacks have triggered fires and wiped out large volumes of goods stored at the sites.
Reuters, reviewing satellite imagery this week, found that at least 1.18 million square metres of Wildberries warehouse space — about one-fifth of the company’s storage capacity — has been damaged or destroyed.
Russian authorities say eight people have been killed at two Wildberries locations.
Five more deaths were reported after a drone hit an unnamed warehouse near Moscow this week.
Tatyana Kim’s company is estimated to be worth more than €7bn and she is Russia’s wealthiest woman
Wildberries’ online shelves look much like those of any major e-commerce platform: clothing, home furnishings, and a vast range of everyday goods. Think Amazon.
But among the items available are small commercial drones, night-vision goggles, and various types of military clothing, including protective body armour.
Ukraine says that overlap is precisely why it is striking Wildberries logistics hubs, arguing the company supplies key equipment to Russia’s armed forces, including sanctioned components used for drone production.
A search on the site for a DJI Mavic 3 — a consumer drone widely used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces for frontline reconnaissance — shows it listed for about €2,500 (244,000 roubles).
Oleksandr Kraiev, a Ukrainian foreign policy expert, said the central aim is to stop Russian businesses and the state 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 denounced the Ukrainian attacks on her company as “acts of terrorism”, while the Kremlin accuses Kyiv of hitting Russia’s civilian economy — an argument that rings hollow given Russian forces have bombed Ukrainian cities for the past four and a half years, destroying businesses and civilian infrastructure, even as Moscow insists it does not target civilian areas.
Wildberries has not disclosed what the strikes have cost. But the impact is likely significant — from lost infrastructure and inventory to the knock-on effect of disrupted fulfilment and reduced online sales.
With reports circulating of destroyed stock and delayed deliveries, regular customers may turn to rivals until the warehouse attacks ease.
One estimate from a Russian analytical firm, shared with Forbes Russia, puts the losses of online retailers selling on Wildberries at between €2.2bn and €3bn (215bn to 280bn roubles).
If the reported destruction to Wildberries facilities and goods is even close to accurate, the campaign is punching above its weight in economic terms compared with the cost of running the strikes. One of Ukraine’s main long-range drones, the FP-1, costs at most €60,000 per unit to produce.
Targeting Wildberries and other industrial areas outside major cities fits alongside Kyiv’s sustained attacks on Russian oil depots and refineries, which have intensified since May.
Earlier this month, strikes on fuel storage sites led to hours-long queues for petrol, and the continuing attacks have eroded Russia’s oil export revenues.
Hitting the arteries of Russia’s e-commerce supply chain has meant lost revenue for sellers and delayed orders for consumers — disruptions that can fuel everyday irritation and broader 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 turn toward striking major nodes of the Russian economy appears to reflect several developments: the SBU’s success over the past two years in hitting strategic bases deep inside Russia, along with former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s push to expand long-range drone production and increase investment in deep-strike technology.
Mr Fedorov was dismissed in mid-July by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following a spat with the former chief of the armed forces, but Kyiv’s long-range approach has continued.
There is a potential strategic incentive to keep it going.
Late last month, Ukrainian and US officials were reported to have discussed an air ceasefire as a way to revive a stalled peace initiative.
If Ukraine can keep draining and disrupting the Russian economy through strikes like those hitting Wildberries, Moscow may ultimately face added pressure to consider such an air ceasefire proposal.
That is the bet in Kyiv.
By snarling deliveries and knocking out warehouse capacity, the attacks on Wildberries bring the war closer to ordinary Russians, interrupting the routines of daily economic life.
And, as with Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s oil sector, the broader purpose in targeting the e-commerce powerhouse is to build leverage for negotiations — whenever talks resume.
