Ukrainian drones attacked the logistics facilities of Russia's largest marketplace Wildberries for the second time. After a massive strike on the night of July 18, which claimed at least 8 lives, the attacks were repeated on the morning of July 20 - this time the company's warehouses are burning again near Moscow.
Ukrainian drones attacked the logistics facilities of Russia's largest marketplace Wildberries for the second time. After a massive strike on the night of July 18, which claimed at least 8 lives, the attacks were repeated on the morning of July 20 - this time the company's warehouses are burning again near Moscow.
On Monday morning, July 20, drones struck several facilities in the Moscow region. The Wildberries logistics center in Podolsk was hit. At the same time, the company's press service stated that the warehouse is operating normally.
Also, according to Telegram channels, one of the company's largest distribution centers in the village of Koledino was hit. At the same time, an oil depot in the village of Lvivsky near Podolsk, the Hryvno industrial park in Motovylov, and a warehouse in the Pivdennyi Vorota industrial park in Domodedovo were hit.
According to official Russian data, 58 drones were shot down over Moscow and the region alone; in general, the attack is described as one of the largest in recent years — according to various estimates, up to 400 drones could have been involved.
As a reminder, on the night of July 18, Ukrainian drones attacked Wildberries logistics centers in two regions of Russia at once - in Kotovsk, Tambov region, and in Elektrostal, Moscow region. As a result of the strikes on the warehouse in Kotovsk, seven night shift workers were killed, and another 25 were injured. In Elektrostal, according to the updated data of the Governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, 37 people were injured, one of the wounded later died in hospital.
The warehouse in Kotovsk caught fire after being hit — the fire caused the structures to collapse. In Elektrostal, one of the largest Wildberries warehouses in Russia was hit — with an area of over 360,000 square meters (according to other sources, including official confirmation from the First Separate Center for Unmanned Systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the area of the affected warehouse was 188,000 square meters). According to Wildberries employees themselves, part of the damage to one of the warehouses was not caused directly by the drone attack, but by Russian air defense, which, trying to shoot down the drones, hit the warehouse itself.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the drone strikes on two Wildberries warehouses on the night of July 18, saying the facilities stored components for drone production and navigation equipment. Russia's Investigative Committee has opened criminal proceedings under the article of terrorist act in connection with the attacks on the warehouses in Kotovsk and Elektrostal.
Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim wrote that July 18 was a "terrible night" for the company and the country, expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and promised the necessary support for the victims.
This is not the first large-scale fire at Wildberries facilities. In January 2024, the company's warehouse in Shushary near St. Petersburg burned to the ground - at that time the company officially announced losses of 10 billion rubles, and later paid compensation of 34.9 billion rubles to sellers whose goods were damaged or irretrievably lost. The warehouse in Elektrostal is estimated to be more than twice the area of the one that burned down in Shushary - so, taking into account the series of July strikes and the general increase in prices, the losses of the company and sellers could reach about 100 billion rubles (a little more than a billion dollars).
It is significant that in early July, even before the current series of attacks, Wildberries management removed its responsibility for paying compensation to sellers in the event of damage to goods as a result of hostilities — that is, it abandoned the practice applied after the 2024 fire.
The Ukrainian side insists that Wildberries warehouses were used by Russia to ensure the supply of sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment, which made them a military target.
In response to the attacks, the Russians are systematically striking at Nova Poshta sorting centers . On the night of July 19, a Russian nighttime missile attack destroyed one of Ukraine's largest logistics complexes and the production facilities of the UKRTAC company, which manufactures military equipment for the Defense Forces.
