Damage From The Fire At Wildberries' Warehouses Exceeded The Annual Budgets Of 53 Regions Of The Russian Federation
- 21.07.2026, 21:46
Warehouses covering an area of 350,000 square meters were completely destroyed by fire.
The fire on Wildberries’ logistics hubs in the Moscow Region and Tambov Oblast, which resulted in 350,000 square meters of warehouse space being completely destroyed by fire, may become one of the “most costly” attacks in terms of damage among those carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, writes The Moscow Times.
In addition to two distribution centers worth about 30 billion rubles, which processed several million items per day, the fires destroyed goods worth at least 150 billion rubles, according to Sergei Semko, a leading analyst at the Russian research agency Data Insight. This is a “conservative estimate,” he emphasizes: the value of the burned inventory could reach 170–230 billion rubles.
As a result, the total damage from the fire, by the most conservative estimates, will amount to 180 billion rubles—a sum that exceeds the annual budgets of 53 Russian regions. Among them are the Omsk Region (178.6 billion rubles), the Belgorod Region (177.3 billion rubles), Udmurtia (172.6 billion rubles), and the Tula Region (169.6 billion rubles).
The damage from the fire is twice the annual budget of the Ivanovo Region (88.5 billion rubles); that of the Oryol Region (61 billion rubles)—three times; and the budgets of the poorest regions—Kalmykia (35.3 billion rubles), the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (30.5 billion rubles), and the Jewish Autonomous Region (28.1 billion rubles)—are nearly six times that amount.
Although Wildberries founder Tatiana Kim stated that the company is exploring the possibility of compensating sellers who lost their goods, in theory this would require an amount comparable to Wildberries’ entire annual profit: last year, it amounted to 175 billion rubles, as Forbes notes. Meanwhile, two weeks before the attack—on July 7—Wildberries’ updated terms of service took effect, under which the company absolved itself of liability for the loss of goods resulting from attacks by drones, missiles, and other munitions.
The chances of sellers who accepted the terms of service succeeding in court are minimal, says attorney Konstantin Stepanov: The marketplace has included drone attacks in its list of force majeure events, and it is difficult to cite a unilateral change to the contract, since the offer is considered accepted by the seller at the moment of acceptance. Despite Kim’s statements, Wildberries is already behaving “strangely,” notes Alexander Tarasenko, managing partner of the law firm “Legal Assistance” Alexander Tarasenko: In sellers’ personal accounts, reports on inventory that was located in the burned-down warehouses have simply disappeared, and it is precisely this data that gives sellers hope of receiving compensation.
An expansion of Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics centers—if it becomes a systematic campaign rather than a one-off action—promises “clearly negative” long-term consequences for the economy, warns Ekaterina Vlasova, chief economist for Russia at Bloomberg Economics. Companies will have to spend more on security, inventory distribution, and new warehouse capacity, she explains, and this will ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices and, as a result, accelerate inflation.
Earlier, the website Charter97.org reported that following a fire at a Wildberries warehouse, Russian sellers were denied compensation.