How did Ukraine's week long drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses across at least 10 Russian cities — including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver, Simferopol, Krasnodar, Tambov, Voronezh, Rostov, and Ryazan — destroy roughly 10 percent of the online retailer's logistics capacity, in

Military rationale

Kyiv justified the strikes on two grounds:

1. Retaliation for Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure — President Zelenskyy framed the strikes as hitting "drone supply centers" that support the Russian war effort .
2. Wildberries as a military supply channel — Wildberries had a dedicated "Everything for the SVO" catalog listing over 200,000 products, including body armor, tactical helmets, combat-tested gear, radios, first-aid kits, and fiber-optic drone components . After the strikes, Wildberries quietly removed the tag from search results but did not remove the products themselves . Analysts at Foreign Policy and The Bulwark argue Wildberries had become a vast, indispensable supply channel for Russian forces — supplementing official military logistics beset by shortages, delays, and corruption .

Economic fallout and state response

• Government aid: Wildberries owner Tatyana Kim formally requested financial support from the Russian government, describing the situation as "difficult" .
• VTB involvement: The Kremlin is exploring support measures, with state-controlled bank VTB expected to play the central role in any bailout package . Sellers are also asking for tax breaks.
• Kazakhstan warehouse search: Russian media reported Wildberries was seeking warehouse space in Kazakhstan, though Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade stated it had not received any official request as of July 29 .
• Macroeconomic context: The attacks compound severe pressure on Russia's economy. The strikes wiped out more than Wildberries' entire annual profit, and hit hundreds of thousands of small and medium sellers who depend on the platform, bringing the war's economic consequences directly to ordinary Russians .

Strategic shift beyond energy infrastructure

This campaign marks a significant evolution in Ukraine's targeting doctrine:

• From energy to economic infrastructure: Previously, Ukraine's deep-strike campaign focused on oil refineries, fuel depots, and energy grids. The Wildberries strikes represent a deliberate shift to targeting Russia's civilian commercial ecosystem that functionally supports the war effort .
• Disrupting the "civilian-military supply chain": Analysts describe Wildberries as a de facto military logistics node — a marketplace where soldiers, units, and volunteer groups directly order combat gear, bypassing the official supply system. Ukraine's logic is that destroying these warehouses disrupts the Russian military's ability to equip itself more effectively than hitting a single factory .
• Bringing the war home: The Guardian and NPR note the strikes deliberately spread economic pain across Russia's middle class and small business owners — sellers who lost uninsured inventory worth millions — making the war's costs felt far from the front lines . The Kremlin acknowledged that "businesses are suffering" from the attacks .