In three weeks of attacks on Wildberries warehouses, more than a fifth of capacity has been destroyed, and thousands of franchise owners in Russia are trying to sell their pickup points.
A series of explosions hit the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday, according to a source on the Telegram channel NOELREPORTS, while for three weeks now, Ukrainian drones have been attacking the logistics centers of Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, almost every night. The consequences of these attacks are increasingly felt by ordinary Russian entrepreneurs, one of whom is Vasily Klimov, the owner of a pickup point in Moscow, whose business has literally overnight turned into a struggle for survival.
Klimov runs one of the 98,000 Wildberries pickup points across Russia and neighboring countries. But since Ukraine launched its campaign of attacks on warehouses on July 18, 2026, his daily delivery volume has dropped from about 400 to just 150 packages. "Sales have fallen by about 50 percent over the past month because there's almost no delivery," Klimov told Reuters. "All of last month, we operated at a loss."
Wildberries says that 95 percent of orders are picked up at points like Klimov's. During a Reuters visit to his point, not a single package arrived, vividly illustrating the depth of the crisis that has befallen the Russian e-commerce giant.
According to a Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, at least 1.18 million square meters of warehouse space has been damaged or destroyed since July 18, representing more than a fifth of the company's total capacity. Thirteen people have been killed in attacks on at least 20 warehouses across Russia. Ukraine denies targeting civilian sites and says it aims to raise the cost of the war for Moscow, accusing Wildberries of supporting Russia's war effort by selling equipment such as night-vision devices and helmets, which the company and the Kremlin reject.
The latest in a series of incidents occurred on August 7, 2026, in Yekaterinburg, in the Sverdlovsk region, where a fire broke out at a Wildberries logistics center covering 158,000 square meters after a drone attack. According to the local governor, eight drones were shot down over the area overnight, and three landed on the center's roof. The fire was later contained, and the company said most of the goods were not damaged. Yekaterinburg is about 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and about 2,000 kilometers from Kyiv, testifying to the reach of Ukrainian long-range drones.
The supply chain disruptions have triggered a chain reaction across the retail sector. The combined intermediary turnover of Wildberries and other e-commerce platforms amounts to roughly 8.5 percent of Russia's GDP, so economists warn that the difficulties could complicate the fight against inflation and slow down interest rate cuts. A source linked to the Kremlin told Reuters that many small and medium-sized businesses risk bankruptcy, and the total damage could exceed hundreds of billions of rubles.
Klimov has already put his business up for sale, jokingly offering it to a Reuters reporter for one ruble. "I don't have enough financial reserves to hold out," he admitted. His case is not isolated-on the online platform Avito, more than 3,100 Wildberries franchise pickup points were listed for sale on Wednesday. Wildberries has confirmed that it has offered sellers additional discounts, payment deferrals, and initial compensation for destroyed goods.
