Dozens of night-shift workers ran across a car park as flames tore through a logistics building the size of a small town block. That is what the footage from one Wildberries warehouse showed after Ukrainian drones hit two of the retailer’s sites in Russia, according to Russian officials.
Eight people died and 62 were injured. In Tambov, roughly 475 km south-east of Moscow, seven people were killed and 25 hurt. At the Elektrostal warehouse in the Moscow region, one person died and 37 were injured.
“Seven people working the night shift died on the spot,” Tambov governor Evgeniy Pervyshov wrote on Telegram. Seven of the injured there were in serious condition, he said, most with shrapnel wounds. His forces shot down 28 drones on approach, he added, and he called it the “largest and most inhumane” attack on the region in terms of drones used and casualties.
Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov said eight of the injured in Elektrostal were seriously hurt. A total of 48 drones were shot down over his region overnight, he said, and a falling drone also struck a Russian oil depot, the incident with “the most serious consequences.”
Wildberries is Russia’s biggest online retailer. Its chief executive, Tatyana Kim, one of the country’s first female billionaires, called it a “terrible night” for Russia and for the company.
Kyiv’s explanation
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes hit “major logistics facilities” used to “supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.” He described the operation as an answer to “Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities.” Fourteen people were killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine in the preceding night, he noted. He added that Ukraine had also hit targets in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and Crimea.
Serhii Kuzan, who chairs the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, told the BBC that Wildberries was a “vital component” of Russian logistics. Russian volunteers, he said, had bought walkie-talkies, body armour and drone components through its website. “The primary rationale for striking Wildberries’ warehouses is to disrupt Russian logistics and the supply of dual-use goods, critical electronics, sanctioned goods and the like to the Russian army and Russian arms manufacturers,” he said. He also expected the collateral damage to weigh on the Russian economy and on public support for the war.
Russia has hit similar targets in Ukraine since the start of the war, including its postal service and some electronics distributors.
Pressure on fuel
The warehouse raids come as Ukraine pushes long-range drone attacks on Russian energy sites, which have caused fuel shortages. Earlier this month Kyiv said nearly 43% of Russia’s oil refining capacity had been “disabled.” The BBC has not verified that figure. Vladimir Putin admitted in June that Ukrainian attacks had caused the shortages, and in early July he signed a law meant to boost supplies to the domestic fuel market.
