Wildberries warehouses in Russia targeted again in overnight Ukrainian drone attacks

Ukrainian drones struck warehouses belonging to Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, overnight into July 24, continuing a wave of attacks on the company's logistics infrastructure that began around July 18. According to multiple reports, facilities in the St. Petersburg area and the Leningrad region, as well as in Russian-occupied Crimea, were hit. Wildberries said it had suspended operations at its logistics complexes in Shushary, near St. Petersburg, and in the Utkina Zavod industrial zone in the Leningrad region following the strikes. Depending on the count used by different outlets, this marks either the fourth or fifth attack on Wildberries facilities within a single week.

Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko confirmed that at least three people were injured in the latest strikes. A fire broke out at one of the warehouses, and local officials reported damage to nearby civilian infrastructure. The precise scale of destruction to the buildings themselves has not yet been independently confirmed. Social media footage showed warehouses ablaze in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region, the Tver region, and in occupied Simferopol in Crimea, where Ukrainian sources also reported hearing explosions.

The latest strikes are part of a broader campaign that began in the preceding days. According to France24, Ukraine has struck five Wildberries warehouses since July 18. In one of the most serious incidents, eight night-shift workers were killed in a warehouse outside Moscow the previous Saturday, with dozens more wounded. The Moscow Times reported that more than 70 people were injured in attacks on Wildberries facilities over the preceding weekend, including two Kyrgyz nationals. Kyrgyzstan's government subsequently urged its citizens in Russia to exercise caution.

Wildberries is Russia's largest e-commerce company and has been described in international coverage as a Russian equivalent to Amazon. It operates a nationwide network of logistics centers that handle a substantial share of the country's online retail traffic. An analysis by Canada's Globe and Mail noted that the company has emerged as an unexpected wartime target, sitting at the heart of Russia's consumer economy — a departure from the infrastructure typically targeted in earlier phases of Ukraine's drone campaign.

The precise reasoning behind targeting Wildberries facilities specifically has not been fully established in the available reporting. Some accounts suggest the warehouses may also serve logistical functions connected to Russia's war effort, though this has not been independently verified. No official Ukrainian statement detailing the rationale for selecting these targets appears in the sources reviewed.

Alongside the attacks on Wildberries, Russia reported conducting its own offensive strikes against Ukraine. Russia's defense ministry said its forces had hit three Ukrainian ports overnight, targeting infrastructure including loading and unloading facilities and fuel reserves that it said supported Ukrainian armed forces. These claims originate from Russian officials and could not be independently verified in the sources reviewed.

Other Russian regions have also reported drone-related incidents in recent days. In the border region of Bryansk, a security guard was reportedly wounded by shrapnel in a strike on a facility belonging to the Miratorg agricultural holding, according to TASS. In occupied Crimea, fires broke out at power substations in Yalta and Alushta. Authorities in the southern Krasnodar region announced plans to strengthen protective measures in response to the rising frequency of attacks.

Reports differ somewhat on details such as the exact number of facilities affected and the sequencing of strikes over the past week, likely reflecting the speed of breaking coverage and differing methods of counting individual incidents. It remains unclear how long the disruptions to Wildberries' operations will last or whether the campaign against the company will continue. A comprehensive official tally of casualties and damage across all affected sites has not yet been published.