{"id":370940,"date":"2026-07-23T22:54:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=370940"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:24:36","slug":"why-ukraine-struck-wildberries-russias-largest-online-marketplace-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/why-ukraine-struck-wildberries-russias-largest-online-marketplace-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ukraine struck Wildberries, Russia\u2019s largest online marketplace – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Ukrainian attacks on the sprawling Russian warehouses produced stark images, with massive pillars of black smoke rising above fires that raged at facilities for Wildberries, the country\u2019s biggest online retailer and its equivalent of Amazon.<\/p>\n

Kyiv\u2019s drones\u00a0first hit the sites\u00a0over the weekend in Elektrostal, just east of Moscow, and within the Tambov region, killing eight people and injuring scores more. Two more Wildberries warehouses -\u2013 within the southern Krasnodar and Stavropol regions -\u2013 were\u00a0attacked and set ablaze early Wednesday.\u00a0One person was killed, and 14 others were hurt.<\/p>\n

The strikes are an element of Kyiv\u2019s aerial campaign inside Russia, aiming to undermine its\u00a0wartime economy\u00a0and make its residents feel the results of the Kremlin\u2019s\u00a0all-out invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

A take a look at Wildberries and the way it became a wartime goal:<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tA retailer that has grown since 2004\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Wildberries was launched in 2004 by Tatyana Kim, a teacher and a young mother on the time, focusing at first on selling clothes.<\/p>\n

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Since then, the platform with its distinct purple logo has change into an industry leader and household name, allowing big and small businesses alike to sell their goods to customers across the country by storing, shipping and delivering their inventory. In April, Forbes Russia estimated Kim\u2019s fortune at $8.1 billion.<\/p>\n

The marketplace features all kinds of goods -\u2013 clothes, books, cosmetics, toys, appliances, home items, sports gear and rather more. There\u2019s an \u201cE-Pharmacy\u201d page and a travel section where users can book plane tickets or hotels.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Kim acquired a small bank and turned it into what now’s Wildberries Bank, but that institution has since come under sanctions by the U.K. and the European Union.<\/p>\n

Last 12 months, Kim said the corporate had greater than 200 facilities totaling over 5.2 million square meters (55 million square feet), with plans to expand in 2026, including planned warehouses in Belarus and Kazakhstan, where Wildberries already operates.<\/p>\n

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Some 500,000 to 800,000 sellers are involved with Wildberries, estimated Sergei Semko, leading analyst with Data Insight, a Moscow-based company that analyzes online retail in Russia.<\/p>\n

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Wildberries currently accounts for 52 per cent of all online orders in Russia, Semko told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tKyiv says the stricken facilities supplied Russia\u2019s military\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

While\u00a0Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u00a0didn’t name Wildberries directly, he has said the facilities his country attacked were involved in supplying gear and various technical components to the Russian military.<\/p>\n

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that \u201cit just isn’t the case\u201d and accused Kyiv of constant to \u201cstrike civilian targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

An AP search of the Wildberries website showed goods that could possibly be used for each civilian and military purposes, akin to body armor, helmets, radios and other electronics. A few of those were even marked as \u201ctested within the SVO\u201d or \u201cSVO fighters\u2019 selection\u201d \u2014 a Russian acronym for \u201cspecial military operation,\u2033 the term utilized by the Kremlin for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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Wildberries didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Russia frequently attacks Ukrainian logistics and retail facilities, including several that were hit last week.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tThe attacks are a blow to Russia\u2019s small businesses\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The attacks have dealt a large blow to many small businesses in Russia, Semko said.<\/p>\n

Online retailers like Wildberries and its competitors Ozon and Yandex Market have enabled local craftsmen and entrepreneurs to sell their goods across Russia\u2019s vast territory, he said.<\/p>\n

Since Saturday, people took to social media to say that inventory for his or her businesses that was being stored by Wildberries within the attacked facilities had been destroyed, tearfully recounting their losses.<\/p>\n

The extent of the damage on the 4 warehouses is tough to gauge.<\/p>\n

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Wildberries said it took three days to place out the hearth at the power in Elektrostal, a key distribution hub for Moscow, but the positioning in Kotovsk, within the Tambov region, is slated to resume operations Thursday. Each Kim and the corporate haven’t elaborated on how much was damaged.<\/p>\n

Peskov said Tuesday that \u201cthe situation is difficult as a result of the losses suffered by each the corporate itself and representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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