NYT: Ukraine Has Brought Wildberries To Its Knees
- 9.08.2026, 21:40
These strikes marked a new phase in the war.
Russia’s richest woman and co-founder of the country’s largest online marketplace Wildberries Tatiana Kim has faced the most serious crisis in the history of her business. This is reported by The New York Times.
The publication notes that since mid-July, Ukraine has destroyed or damaged more than 20 of the company’s large warehouse complexes—resulting in the destruction not only of the facilities themselves but also of billions of dollars’ worth of goods belonging to hundreds of thousands of retailers.
According to the authors of the article, these strikes mark a new phase of the war and represent an attempt by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to shift the consequences of the hostilities directly onto Russian society, thereby increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin.
Kyiv considers Wildberries a legitimate military target, since the platform sells not only dual-use goods that could be used by the Russian military, but also purely military products with no civilian applications. Kim herself rejects these accusations. In a video address at the end of July, she called the strikes “terrorist attacks” and stated that Wildberries’ product range is no different from the goods sold by Amazon and Alibaba.
“There is no logic, no common sense, and no rationality in the terrorists’ actions,” Kim said.
The attacks have already impacted not only the company itself but also the Russian consumer market as a whole. As The New York Times notes, citing a study by Sberindex, Russians’ spending on non-food goods sold through marketplaces has fallen sharply in recent weeks.
According to estimates by the consulting firm Data Insight, Wildberries has lost a third of its warehouse space, and total losses of goods amounted to 480 billion rubles, or about $5.9 billion.
The company is trying to restructure its operations: Kim announced the decentralization of the distribution system and accelerated logistics reforms. Wildberries has also paid compensation to more than 80,000 small and medium-sized sellers who lost merchandise and introduced limited insurance against drone attacks. At the same time, Russian authorities are preparing an aid package for sellers that includes tax breaks and payment deferrals.
At the same time, Wildberries is facing growing competition from Ozon—Russia’s second-largest marketplace. According to industry observers, some sellers are already switching to Ozon, whose logistics system is more decentralized.
At the same time, as The New York Times notes, Wildberries continues to operate as usual in many regions.
“The company has such a complex logistics and IT infrastructure that it has no intention of shutting down just because some of its warehouses were damaged or destroyed,” the publication writes, citing a former top Wildberries executive who wished to remain anonymous.