Ukrainian long-range drones struck warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s dominant e-commerce platform, in the southern cities of Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk overnight on 22 July, injuring at least 15 people and killing one worker in the nearby town of Armavir from falling debris. The attack came four days after a similar strike on two of the company’s major logistics centres near Moscow killed eight night-shift employees and largely destroyed the facilities. Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim confirmed the evacuations and said there were “no words” to describe the attacks on civilian staff, while regional governors reported large fires and the deployment of helicopters to fight the blazes.

Kyiv framed the strikes as a direct effort to degrade Russian military logistics. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the targeted hubs were “involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear.” Ukrainian officials have previously pointed to Wildberries’ online marketplace as a channel through which volunteers and units procure dual-use items such as body armour, radios, and fibre-optic cables used to pilot drones. Viewed from Kyiv, the campaign against the retailer forms part of a widening strategy to disrupt the Russian war effort and bring economic pressure to bear on the Kremlin, alongside intensified attacks on oil refineries, fuel depots, and shipping in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

Moscow responded by opening a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts” and launching retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure. The Russian defence ministry said it had hit a dry-cargo ship unloading at Chornomorsk, military stores, fuel tanks, and three warehouses storing Ukrainian drones in Odesa. Russian officials described the Wildberries attacks as targeting ordinary workers and civilian economic assets. The company, often compared to Amazon, operates a marketplace that connects independent sellers with buyers across Russia, handling storage, delivery, and payments. Online sales in Russia rose 28 per cent in 2025 to 11.5 trillion roubles, equivalent to roughly 8.5 per cent of GDP, according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies, making the logistics network a significant node in the consumer economy.

Military analysts in Israel note that the systematic expansion of Ukraine’s target list coincides with a major shakeup in Kyiv’s military command. On 21 July, Zelenskyy replaced the commander-in-chief of the armed forces with 42-year-old Mykhailo Drapatyi, a general known for embracing technological innovation and aggressive tactics. The appointment, following days of street protests, signals a potential intensification of the drone war deep inside Russian territory. Meanwhile, the United Nations reported a 37 per cent rise in civilian casualties in the first half of 2026, as both sides escalate long-range strikes. The dossier remains open: no ceasefire talks are scheduled, and the Kremlin has hardened its territorial demands, insisting on retaining occupied areas of Sumy and Kharkiv as buffer zones, according to sources close to the Russian leadership.