The first Ukrainian drone hit a Wildberries logistics center on July 18, right after Ukraine changed defense ministers. By late September, The Insider counted 23 attacks. They had killed 14 people and wrecked warehouses in Novosemeykino, in the Samara region, and in Kotovsk near Tambov.
Wildberries and Ozon run Russian online shopping. Together they control 73% of the country’s e-commerce sector, and in the first half of 2026 they handled 3.8 billion orders, 84% of all parcels Russians received. Their model rests on huge regional warehouses. Goods arrive from manufacturers or customs, move through a mega-hub and go on to a pickup point near the customer. It is cheap, and it also means a few big buildings carry the whole system.
What burned
Of the Wildberries facilities hit, nine had to suspend work and six scaled back, while another six were quickly back to normal, The Insider reported. Russian business media estimated the company had lost 17% of its warehouse space by the start of August and 22% (1.8 million square meters) by August 24. The independent outlet Verstka put the figure as high as 43%. By the end of August, The Insider estimated, about 20% of Wildberries’ warehouses had been knocked out.
The money lost is hard to pin down but large. Estimates cited by the outlet put the marketplace’s own losses at around 200 billion rubles and its partner sellers’ at 450 to 500 billion rubles. Of the sellers’ share, 200 to 300 billion rubles is the value of goods that burned, and the rest is lost profit.
Ozon was hit too. Its logistics facilities have been under attack since August, Meduza noted, though experts say Wildberries took the worse damage. Ukraine has said the marketplaces are used to supply “sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment.”
Sellers move
The shift shows up in sales data. Kommersant, citing MPStats Data and reported by Meduza on October 21, said large sellers accounted for 60% of sales on Ozon by the end of summer. In January, Wildberries led that segment with 57.54% against Ozon’s 42.46%.
Wildberries disputes the reading. It said its own figures show stable sales for major sellers, with only minor fluctuations, and that the assessments ignore differences in how various seller categories operate. Ozon did not comment.
The Insider argued that the strikes are ending a long run of cheap, fast online shopping that had softened the war’s effect on ordinary Russians. The Russian central bank expects the disruption at the largest marketplaces to shrink supply, make discounts rarer and raise logistics costs.
Sources
- Major sellers increased sales on Ozon after Ukrainian drone strikes hit Wildberries — Meduza
- The consumer boom is over: Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries and Ozon mark the end of Russians’ spending spree — The Insider
