Waves of Ukrainian drones struck warehouses belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries, triggering massive explosions that killed eight people and wounded dozens, according to Russian officials.
Tambov Region Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said 25 people were wounded in the city of Kotovsk, about 475 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
Drone attack in Moscow
“Seven workers who were on the night shift were killed at the scene,” he wrote on Telegram. One of the wounded later died in the hospital, bringing the death toll to eight.
Pervyshov said another 28 drones were intercepted before reaching their targets.
“If the drones had achieved their objective, the number of civilian casualties could have been much higher,” he said.
The oil depot that caught fire
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had struck an oil facility and two logistics facilities used by Russia to supply components for drone production and navigation equipment.
Second Wildberries warehouse struck near Moscow
Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said 24 people were wounded in a separate attack on another Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, east of Moscow.
In nearby Noginsk, debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage facility.
Vorobyov did not specify the extent of the damage but said two people were wounded and a nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution.
Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Kim expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
“A terrible night for Russia and for the company,” she said.
Russia’s largest online retailer
Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce company, was founded in 2004 as an online clothing retailer.
It later expanded into a broad marketplace selling products ranging from electronics to kitchenware.
The company says its platform, which is particularly active across former Soviet states, receives approximately 30 million visitors and processes 10 million orders each day.
Its annual revenue amounts to billions of dollars.
Wildberries’ success made Kim, 48, Russia’s wealthiest woman. Forbes estimates her fortune at $7.9 billion.
Her rise is unusual within Russia’s business elite, which is dominated by oligarchs who accumulated wealth by taking control of former state enterprises following the Soviet Union’s collapse in the 1990s.
Kremlin-backed expansion
In June 2024, Wildberries announced plans to merge with advertising company Russ to create a new digital commerce platform.
Kim, regarded as the driving force behind the deal, received support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who viewed the merger as an opportunity to build a Russian commercial giant capable of competing with Amazon and Alibaba.
Wildberries was already considered closely connected to the Kremlin before the proposed merger.
Ukraine’s latest attacks indicate that logistics and commercial infrastructure alleged to support Russia’s military production are becoming increasingly prominent targets in the war.