Ukraine Targets Russia’s E-Commerce Logistics Network

Ukraine has expanded its campaign of drone strikes against Russia’s major e-commerce companies, targeting warehouses and logistics facilities operated by Ozon after weeks of attacks on Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer. Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online marketplace, reported that a major fire broke out on Aug. 24 at a logistics centre in the southern Krasnodar region following a drone attack. The company said staff were evacuated, its safety systems worked as intended, and there were preliminarily no casualties. Operations at the site were suspended. The incident followed fires at Ozon facilities in the Orenburg and Samara regions. The Orenburg fire was also attributed to a drone attack, while the Samara strike reportedly wounded an unspecified number of workers. A logistics centre beside an Ozon facility near Saint Petersburg was also hit. Ukraine’s defence ministry announced on Aug. 22 that Ozon would become the focus of a new campaign after Ukrainian units had struck 15 of Wildberries’ largest logistics hubs. The attacks target warehouses that are generally less heavily defended than military installations. Several facilities reportedly contained flammable goods and were destroyed, causing economic losses estimated at billions of dollars. The strikes form part of Ukraine’s broader effort to disrupt Russian infrastructure and businesses that it says support the country’s war effort, including allegations that Wildberries supplied components to the Russian military. Ozon and Wildberries are often described as “Russia’s Amazon” because of their dominance of the country’s rapidly growing e-commerce sector. Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged government assistance to rebuild Wildberries logistics hubs damaged in earlier strikes. Russia has condemned the attacks as assaults on civilian infrastructure, even as the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused extensive civilian deaths and destruction in eastern and southern Ukraine.

A drone attack overnight in Krasnodar, southern Russia, killed two children and injured nine other people, including seven children, after falling debris struck a private childcare centre, according to Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev. Debris also fell on apartment buildings, while warehouses caught fire. Russian online retailer Ozon said the attack ignited a fire at one of its logistics hubs. The incident occurred amid intensified Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics facilities, warehouses and other economic targets. The article says these attacks are bringing the war, which Russia began in February 2022, closer to ordinary Russians, including people who earn a living by selling goods online. In the nearby Stavropol region, Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said a drone attack on an industrial area in Nevinnomysk was repelled. The report also describes a separate Russian attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, which killed three people, according to the regional governor. Ukraine is seeking additional interceptor missiles from the United States and Europe to defend against continuing Russian attacks as the war enters its fifth year. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Kyiv had opened a “Pandora’s box” by striking Russian economic targets. He warned that Moscow would retaliate against Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors.” The report presents the attacks as part of an escalating cycle of strikes affecting civilian areas, industrial facilities and logistics infrastructure on both sides of the conflict.

Russia’s second-largest online retailer, Ozon, says several of its logistics facilities were damaged by overnight Ukrainian drone strikes in the southern regions of Krasnodar, Dagestan, Stavropol and Adygea. Fires broke out at warehouses in Makhachkala and Krasnodar, while workers at sites in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk were evacuated. The company said several employees had been injured, including in an earlier strike on an Ozon facility in the Samara region. Russia’s defence ministry said three children were killed and six others hospitalized in Krasnodar after a Ukrainian drone attack. The BBC verified social-media videos showing a drone hitting a warehouse in the Orenburg region and flames rising from a facility in Dagestan, although the article does not independently verify all reported casualties. The attacks follow weeks of Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer. Ukraine describes the companies’ logistics facilities as legitimate military targets because they allegedly store or transport dual-use goods and components for the Russian military. Moscow denies that the platforms are used for army supplies. President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine had opened “Pandora’s box” by attacking economic targets and warned that Russia would retaliate against Kyiv’s most sensitive economic sectors. Ozon’s shares fell as much as 12% on the Moscow Exchange, while shares in major shareholder AFK Sistema dropped nearly 13%. The Kremlin said it was considering ways to support the company. The strikes have affected businesses that use Ozon’s marketplace, as well as ordinary Russians who depend on its delivery network, particularly in areas with few shops. Ozon and Wildberries are described as Russia’s equivalent of Amazon and are estimated to serve 85-90% of the economically active population. The report also notes that Russian strikes have recently damaged Ukrainian warehouses, cargo terminals, food-storage facilities and energy infrastructure, with five people injured in Ukraine’s Odesa region.