Small and medium-sized businesses whose goods were destroyed in a fire at the ROZETKA Fulfillment warehouse in Brovary on August 5 have joined together to resolve claims for damages. So far, 44 stores have reported a loss of inventory totaling about UAH 112 million.
Small and medium-sized businesses whose goods were destroyed in a fire at the ROZETKA Fulfillment warehouse in Brovary on August 5 have joined together to resolve claims for damages. So far, 44 stores have reported a loss of inventory totaling about UAH 112 million.
This was reported to dev.ua by Yaroslav Rachok, coordinator of the initiative group of affected sellers. According to him, for many entrepreneurs, the destroyed goods constituted almost all of the working capital accumulated over the years of work.
Currently, the only proposed support mechanism from the marketplace is a 30% discount on some of the platform’s services. However, merchants emphasize that this solution is ineffective, since resuming sales requires new purchases of goods, for which they do not have the resources.
«For some entrepreneurs, it was almost the entire inventory and funds invested in their own business for years. Where can an entrepreneur whose main inventory has been destroyed get funds? We are no longer ready to leave this problem only in closed chat rooms,» Raczok noted.
Representatives of the initiative group also note that in the preserved correspondence, ROZETKA management initially mentioned compensation for losses, in particular due to war risks, but later the company’s position changed. In addition, a number of sellers, even before the destruction of the facility, requested an urgent return of goods, but faced long delays in delivery.
The entrepreneurs have prepared a collective claim, collecting contracts, acceptance and transfer certificates, and primary documentation, and are demanding that ROZETKA develop a clear mechanism for settling losses.
As a reminder, on the night of August 5, Russia carried out a massive missile and drone strike on the Kyiv region, as a result of which three ballistic missiles hit the ROZETKA warehouse complex. According to the company’s co-founder Vladislav Chechotkin, the facility was completely destroyed, and the total damage is measured in billions of UAH.
As the co-founder of the marketplace, Iryna Chechotkina, clarified, the cost of building the distribution center itself, excluding goods, was $70 million. The missile strike was preceded by a suicide drone attack, during which one employee was killed and seven were injured. The destruction of the logistics hub near Kyiv was the largest financial and infrastructural loss for the retailer in its entire history.
