Russian online retailer Wildberries said on Monday that a Ukrainian drone attack on one of its warehouses in the Vladimir region had caused a fire to break out and that staff had been evacuated.
The company, whose warehouses have been systematically targeted by Ukraine in recent weeks, said firefighters were working at the scene. It said logistics operations had been rerouted to other facilities to ensure deliveries and shipments continued as usual.
Alexander Avdeyev, the regional governor, said a young man had received a non-life-threatening head wound in the attack and was being taken to hospital. A woman who lived nearby had also suffered what he described as minor injuries to one of her legs.
Attacks on Wildberries
There have been attacks on about a dozen Wildberries sites since July 18 in a bid to disrupt the operations of the company, a linchpin of the consumer economy often described as Russia's answer to Amazon.
Wildberries has taken on a critical socio-economic role since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022.
Millions of small and medium-sized Russian businesses rely entirely on Wildberries to list, store, and ship their inventory.
The Russian giant earlier said that its nationwide warehouse network is capable of handling over 20 million orders a day.
The initial drone strikes on the Moscow and Tambov hubs instantly wiped out as much as $2-3 billion worth of seller goods, according to research agency Data Insight.
Wildberries updated its seller terms on July 7 to include force majeure exemptions for drone strikes and military action.
Thousands of small business owners whose inventory was incinerated face catastrophic financial losses without a guaranteed right to full compensation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses the Russian military of using Wildberries to source and transport dual-use electronics, sanctioned items, and critical drone components.
The Kremlin denies accusations from Ukraine that Wildberries handles military supplies.
The attacks on the online retailer also serve as asymmetric retaliation for Russia's relentless strikes against Ukraine's various civilian infrastructures and its domestic postal service, Nova Poshta (New Post).
The Russian Ministry of Defence justified these attacks by claiming that civilian logistics hubs are being used to store Ukrainian military cargo, foreign equipment, or drone manufacturing components.
