MOSCOW, July 22 (Reuters) - Another attack on the warehouses of Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, has injured several people, said the head and co-founder of the company on Wednesday.
The attacks on a company so central to the consumer economy appear to mark a widening of Kyiv's strategy of using long-range drones to disrupt Russia's war effort and pressure the Kremlin to make peace.
Tatyana Kim said the warehouses in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk had been attacked. Social media footage, verified by Reuters, showed a huge plume of smoke rising into the air in Krasnodar.
Local authorities also said one worker was killed in another southern city, Armavir, when drone debris fell on one of the enterprises.
Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev also said that 10 people were wounded in an attack on a storage complex, while drone debris has damaged two high-rise apartments in Krasnodar, where no one was injured.
Authorities said a helicopter would be deployed to douse the fire at the warehouse in Krasnodar. In total, 105 people have been engaged in efforts to combat the fire.
A previous strike by Ukrainian drones on Saturday killed eight workers, sparked fires and disrupted operations at Wildberries.
"There are no words to describe all the feelings and emotions caused by the attacks on ordinary people, on our employees, on all of us who are simply doing our jobs," Kim said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine has not commented on recent attacks.
Wildberries started as an online shop reselling apparel from European catalogues. It has since expanded its product range and evolved into a marketplace that includes third-party vendors. Wildberries has not commented on the scale of the damage.
Online sales across Russia rose 28% in 2025 to 11.5 trillion roubles ($147 billion), according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said sales of goods and services on digital platforms equated to around 8.5% of GDP.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Tom Hogue and Thomas Derpinghaus)
