Russia accuses Ukraine of second Wildberries warehouse attack, Ukraine confirms strikes

Russia accused Ukraine of targeting Wildberries warehouses overnight on Wednesday for the second time in a week, after drones were heard and fires broke out at warehouse sites in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions, according to authorities.

Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim — described by domestic outlets as Russia's wealthiest woman — said employees had been evacuated in advance, but that 15 people were injured, 10 in Krasnodar and five in Nevinnomyssk. Kim said several employees were taken to hospital, while others were treated at the scene.

Regional authorities declared a local state of emergency, saying the fires were extensive. Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said helicopters had been deployed to help extinguish the blaze.

Miratorg, Russia's largest meat producer, separately said three of its plants in the western Bryansk region were also targeted overnight, with a security guard injured and significant damage to one facility.

Meanwhile, social media posts and messages in trade union chats alleged that some workers had not been permitted to leave the premises in time. Those claims could not be independently verified. The company said it had set up a hotline for relatives and that the families of casualties would receive compensation.

Both warehouse sites suspended operations following the attacks, with the company informing partners that deliveries could be cancelled or redirected and that storage fees at the two sites would stop accruing from Wednesday.

The August attack was the third strike on Wildberries facilities in four days.

Why Wildberries?

Ukraine confirmed the strikes for the first time, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing the company of supplying components for Russian drone production.

Zelenskyy said Wildberries had been helping supply the Russian military with parts for drones and other equipment, in the clearest official Ukrainian statement yet on why the company's logistics network has been targeted. Kyiv had not previously commented officially on earlier strikes against the same facilities. Russia rejects the claim.

Wildberries is Russia's largest e-commerce retailer, with an estimated annual turnover of more than 2 trillion roubles and a logistics network that spans the country.

Kim's relationship with the Kremlin has attracted scrutiny since 2024, when she orchestrated a controversial merger between Wildberries and the outdoor advertising firm Russ Group, in a deal endorsed by President Vladimir Putin.

Kim and Russ Group's chief Robert Mirzoyan presented the combined entity to Putin as the foundation for a ruble-based digital payment and retail platform designed to bypass SWIFT and rival Western tech giants.

The merger triggered a violent dispute with Kim's then-husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, which resulted in a shootout at the company's Moscow headquarters in September 2024, killing two security guards.

Kim accused Bakalchuk of leading an armed attempt to seize the company, while he denied the allegation, saying he had come for negotiations.

Ukraine's broader campaign targeting Russian economic infrastructure has intensified in 2026. Ukrainian long-range drones have struck refineries, oil depots, ammunition storage facilities and now commercial logistics hubs, reaching targets more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line.

The strikes are designed in part to impose economic costs on the Russian state and prevent further ways of funding Moscow's war machine following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and the ongoing all-out war.

During the same night, Russia continued its strikes on Ukrainian territory using ballistic missiles and a large swarm of attack drones.

Direct hits were recorded at an industrial site in Kryvyi Rih, workshops at an engineering plant in Zaporizhzhia, shipbuilding facilities in Mykolaiv, a fuel depot in Ternopil and a logistics hub in the Lviv region.

Facilities linked to drone repairs and ammunition storage were also struck in the Poltava and Cherkasy regions. Debris from downed drones fell in residential areas of the Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, causing localised damage to utility infrastructure.