Ukraine targets Russia’s Wildberries logistics war economy wiping billions from Putin economy Ukraine targets Russia’s Wildberries logistics HubsUkraine’s expanding deep-strike campaign inside Russia is increasingly reaching beyond oil refineries and military targets, with a series of drone attacks hitting facilities belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s giant online retailer. A strike on Thursday hit an oil and petrochemical complex in Bashkortostan and sparked a fire at a Wildberries facility, although the company said it had been evacuated and was not storing goods there at the time. The attacks are part of a wider campaign that has hit Wildberries sites across Russia since July 18. Billions in lossesThe financial damage is potentially enormous. Ukrainian media have estimated that Wildberries and the businesses operating through its network have suffered losses of between 600 billion and 800 billion rubles — roughly $6 billion to $8.5 billion. The figure includes losses suffered by sellers rather than representing money personally lost by Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Kim. The attacks have already disrupted a substantial part of the company’s distribution network. According to Kateryna Bondar of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, around 27% of Wildberries’ warehouse capacity is reportedly out of operation, while only an estimated 5% to 7% of sellers have insurance covering the damage. Seven killed in earlier strikesThe campaign has also been deadly. Drone attacks on Wildberries facilities in Kotovsk and Elektrostal on July 18 reportedly killed seven people and wounded more than 60. Further strikes four days later hit sites in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk, causing fires and injuring another 15 people. For thousands of small businesses using Wildberries, the consequences could extend well beyond damaged warehouses. Sellers are now facing the prospect of higher insurance premiums, shorter inventory cycles, demands for advance payment and increased transport costs as companies attempt to price the risk of operating inside Russia into their businesses. Why Wildberries?Kyiv’s apparent calculation is that Russia’s enormous commercial distribution system is not simply a civilian retail operation. Ukrainian officials and analysts argue that Wildberries warehouses can also function as distribution points for goods with potential military applications, including body armour, helmets, fibre-optic cable used by FPV drones and navigation equipment. The network may also provide channels for moving goods around Western sanctions. From Kyiv’s perspective, therefore, disrupting the logistics system represents another way of imposing costs on Russia’s ability to sustain its war. There is also an element of retaliation. Ukrainian infrastructure, including the Nova Poshta and Ukrposhta delivery networks, has repeatedly been damaged by Russian attacks. The expanding strikes suggest Kyiv is increasingly prepared to make Russia’s own commercial infrastructure part of the economic battlefield. Russia’s richest woman caught in the middleThe attacks have put Wildberries’ billionaire founder Tatyana Kim in an awkward position. Forbes estimated her fortune at around $7 billion in July, making her Russia’s richest woman. Kim has accused Ukraine of deliberately attacking a civilian company and described the campaign as a terrorist attack, while saying that merchants in Russia and partner countries including China and Kazakhstan have suffered billions in losses. But the Kremlin’s response appears far less dramatic than Kim might have expected. Rather than receiving substantial compensation or additional protection, she has reportedly been negotiating tax deferrals. That has raised an uncomfortable question for Russia’s business elite: how much protection does political influence really buy when the war reaches deep inside the country? A warning to Russian businessThat may ultimately be one of the most important effects of the campaign. The strikes demonstrate that operating a major private business inside Russia does not necessarily provide protection from a war that is increasingly reaching far beyond the front lines. At the same time, the attacks are having a psychological impact. Witnesses have reported fear, anger and shock, along with growing doubts about the ability of Russian air defences to protect major facilities deep inside the country. Wildberries has also introduced tighter restrictions on workers’ use of mobile phones, officially citing air-defence security. Critics argue the policy has another effect: preventing employees from filming and immediately distributing images of strikes, fires and damage. That creates an extraordinary dilemma for Moscow. The more Ukraine demonstrates that Russian territory and its commercial infrastructure are vulnerable, the harder it becomes for the Kremlin to maintain the impression that the war remains something happening somewhere else. Ukraine is therefore attempting something more sophisticated than simply destroying individual buildings. By repeatedly striking logistics hubs, warehouses and industrial facilities, Kyiv is trying to make the entire Russian war economy more expensive, more uncertain and more difficult to operate — forcing businesses and consumers alike to absorb a growing share of the cost of Putin’s war. SOURCE
