Full Breakdown
Ukrainian Drone and Cyber Campaign Cripples Wildberries, Russia’s Largest Online Retailer
8/16/2026, 7:11:46 AM
Core Attack Timeline
- July 18 – Ukrainian drones began a systematic strike campaign against Wildberries’ logistics hubs, hitting more than 14 facilities and destroying roughly a quarter of the company’s warehouse capacity (about 1.5 million m²).
- July 31 – Orders for military-related categories fell sharply, with declines of 39 % in Drone Accessories and 24 % in Body Armor.
- August 3 – The destroyed warehouse area reached 1.5 million m², still representing over 25 % of Wildberries’ network.
- August 8 – Drone attacks were reported to have wiped out one-third of the retailer’s total warehouse capacity.
- August 13 – All major Wildberries warehouses were confirmed destroyed, amounting to roughly one-third of the company’s overall storage capability.
Scale of Physical Damage and Economic Losses
Data Insight lead analyst Sergey Semko estimated direct losses from the destroyed logistics infrastructure at 147–223 billion rubles (? $1.75-$2.66 bn). Including demolition, debris removal and site restoration, total losses could rise to 278 billion rubles (? $3.32 bn).
Merchandise destroyed was valued between 445–507 billion rubles (? $5.31-$6.1 bn). Combining company and seller losses, the figure reaches around 800 billion rubles (? $10 bn).
The Association of Suppliers of Goods for E-Commerce Platforms head Margaret Evstigneeva placed seller losses higher, at 600-700 billion rubles (? $7.16-$8.35 bn), suggesting total damage could approach 1 trillion rubles (? $11.9 bn).
Disruption of Military-Related Sales
Wildberries processes roughly 6 trillion rubles (? $74 bn) in annual sales, about 10 % of Russian retail and 3 % of GDP. Prior to the strikes, the platform generated roughly $20 million per quarter from direct sales of frontline gear.
After the July-August attacks, sales of these items plunged: Drone Accessories - 39 %, Body Armor - 24 %, Weapon Accessories - 24 %, Hunting Scopes - 22 %, and Drones - 29 % between July 18 and July 31. Over a three-month period, the six military-related categories generated 1.64 billion rubles (? $20 million) in revenue.
Official Statements & Responses
- Tatyana Kim, CEO of Wildberries, condemned the strikes and announced an emergency effort to overhaul the logistics network.
- Following a cyber operation claimed by Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) later in the month, Wildberries attributed payment delays to “technical problems” and extended the processing period for future payments from five to seven business days, as reported by the Moscow Times.
- HUR said the cyberattack disrupted the retailer’s main remote customer-service channel and partially destabilized its payment infrastructure, amplifying the impact of the physical strikes.
On-the-Ground Reports
Monitoring channels captured footage of multiple fires beneath the roofs of struck warehouses in Yekaterinburg, Koledino (Moscow Oblast), Domodedovo and Voronezh. Satellite imagery showed severe fire damage at facilities in Elektrostal and Krasnodar. A passenger plane flew past smoke rising from a Wildberries warehouse near Saint Petersburg on July 24, confirming the scale of the destruction.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Loss estimates vary: direct infrastructure damage is quoted as 147-223 billion rubles by Semko, while total combined losses (including seller inventory) range from 800 billion rubles to 1 trillion rubles per Evstigneeva. Independent verification of the exact amount of destroyed merchandise remains unavailable, and the full extent of the cyber-operation’s impact could not be confirmed by the Kyiv Independent.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Many lost up to 95% of all their goods. At the same time, Wildberries considers itself the affected party and paid small sellers an average of 2,000–30,000 rubles, which covered less than 20% of their losses,” — Margaret Evstigneeva
