Ukrainian Drone Strike Sets Wildberries Warehouse Ablaze Near St. Petersburg

MOSCOW: A warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, caught fire following a Ukrainian drone attack in the Leningrad region near St. Petersburg, as Kyiv expanded its campaign against the country’s largest e-commerce logistics network.

Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said the drone strike ignited a fire at the company’s logistics center in Novosaratovka in the Vsevolozhsk district, injuring three people. Emergency services evacuated staff from the facility, while firefighters worked to contain the blaze. A separate drone strike also caused the collapse of a warehouse at the Severnaya Poultry Farm in the Kirovsky district, although no injuries were reported there.

Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim confirmed that there were no fatalities and said the company had begun redistributing inventory to other logistics hubs in an effort to minimize disruptions to customers and sellers. She added that operations would continue as the company worked to restore its logistics network.

The latest attack marks the eighth strike on Wildberries warehouses since July 18, affecting facilities in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region, Voronezh, and Russian-controlled Crimea. According to the company, the damaged sites account for more than 10% of its logistics capacity, posing significant challenges for merchants and millions of customers who rely on the platform.

Ukraine has described the attacks as part of a strategy to disrupt Russia’s economic infrastructure, arguing that some logistics facilities support the Russian military. The Kremlin has rejected those claims, insisting that the warehouses serve civilian commercial purposes. The strikes come amid an intensifying exchange of long-range drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine targeting logistics, energy, and industrial infrastructure.