For the third time in five days, Ukrainian drones have again hit Wildberries warehouses, Russia’s largest e-commerce company. The attacks on Wednesday night occurred in two southern Russian regions, Krasnodar and Stavropol. Several people were injured, according to the company’s founder.
Tatiana Kim, who founded Wildberries in 2004, stated that, “according to preliminary data, unfortunately, there have been injuries. I wish them a speedy recovery and, without a doubt, we will provide them with all necessary assistance.” The staff of those facilities had to be evacuated.
The attacked warehouses are located in Krasnodar, the capital of the krai of the same name, on the Black Sea coast with 1.1 million inhabitants; and in Nevinnomyssk, a city of 110,000 inhabitants in the neighboring Stavropol krai. Images published on social media on Wednesday showed a huge column of smoke over Krasnodar.
Remains of a downed aircraft damage an apartment building
Krasnodar authorities also reported the death of a civilian in another city in the region, Armavir (185,000 inhabitants), when the remains of a downed drone fell on a local company.
Regional governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, said that ten people were also injured at a warehouse complex. In the regional capital, the remains of an unmanned aerial vehicle damaged an apartment building, this time without causing injuries.
For his part, Stavropol governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, reported five injured in Nevinnomyssk.
“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 job,” Kim wrote in a Telegram message expressing her regret.
Zelensky claims Russia uses Wildberries to obtain “drone components and navigation equipment”
On the contrary, Ukraine claims that Russian authorities use the company’s logistics to obtain components prohibited by Western sanctions against Moscow. After the first strike against Wildberries facilities last Saturday, July 18, in the Tambov and Moscow provinces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared it was the “response to Russian attacks against our civilian infrastructure and against our cities and communities” in a war that has already lasted almost four and a half years.
In Saturday’s attacks, Ukrainian drones killed eight Wildberries workers, a company sometimes called the “Russian Amazon” due to its similarity.
This Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader confirmed on the social network X the new attack against “important targets in the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Stavropol” and, as he did on Saturday, justified them by stating that they are “logistics centers involved in supplying the Russian Army with drone components, navigation equipment, and other items.”
The second attack against the most important Russian e-commerce company occurred on Monday, July 20, and caused 10 injuries at a warehouse in the city of Podolsk, about 40 kilometers south of Moscow.
