637 Drones Target Moscow Region as Wildberries Warehouses Suffer Billions in Losses

Moscow and the region faced one of the largest drone attacks of the war overnight as Russian authorities reported over 600 Ukrainian drones targeting the capital and surrounding region, while a Wildberries warehouse caught fire and power infrastructure was damaged.From the evening of Aug. 17 through the morning of Aug. 18, 637 Ukrainian drones were launched toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.According to Sobyanin, at least 180 of the drones were shot down directly over the region. Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, meanwhile, reported the interception of more than 150 drones in Bogorodskoye, Ramenskoye, Pavlovsky Posad, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Voskresensk, Stupino, Kolomna and Elektrostal.In Pavlovsky Posad, the roof of an apartment building caught fire, prompting the evacuation of residents. No injuries were reported there, Vorobyov said.In the Ramenskoye District, a drone crashed onto a private home, injuring a 10-year-old girl. Two other people were injured by falling drone debris in Kolomna and Bogorodsky District, according to the governor.One of the facilities affected by the attack was a Wildberries warehouse in Bogorodsky, where a fire broke out. The company said its employees were evacuated and that the fire was “quickly dealt with.” It added that no goods were damaged. Vorobyov also reported a fire at a retail pavilion near the Globus shopping center in Kolomna. The blaze damaged a registry office, a store and the windows of a residential building on Sovetskaya Square. Other Topics of Interest Russia Summons Japanese Ambassador After Tokyo Protests Putin’s Kuril Islands Visit Moscow retaliates after Japan summoned Russia’s envoy over Putin’s first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands. The attack also damaged the regional power grid. Mosoblenergo reported that 109 transformer substations were knocked out, leaving more than 5,000 customers and 46 socially important facilities without electricity in the Likino-Dulyovo and Orekhovo-Zuyevo urban districts.Mosoblenergo said it planned to restore power within two hours.Wildberries warehouses repeatedly targetedThe latest incident comes after another major drone attack on the Moscow region on Aug. 16, when Sobyanin reported that about 600 drones were heading toward the region. Russian authorities said 201 of them were shot down over the Moscow region.The repeated attacks have also affected Wildberries, one of Russia’s largest e-commerce companies. A satellite image posted by the Ukrainian Telegram monitoring channel Exilenova+ showed that a Wildberries warehouse in the village of Koledino near Podolsk was completely destroyed in a drone attack on Aug. 16. Msk1 reported that firefighters battled the blaze from both the ground and the air, with four helicopters deployed to extinguish it. Despite those efforts, the facility was reportedly “reduced to rubble.”The destroyed complex covered an estimated 230,000-250,000 square meters, according to different estimates. It was reportedly Wildberries’ largest hub and one of the key nodes in its logistics network.Data Insight analyst Sergey Semko said that goods worth an estimated 78 billion rubles ($918 million) were destroyed in the fire at the Koledino warehouse. According to Semko, the facility had enabled Wildberries to maintain delivery times of one to two days across Moscow and the surrounding region.Following the previous attack on Koledino, Ukrainian drone manufacturer Fire Point said strikes against such facilities weaken Russia’s economic potential by disrupting supply chains and causing losses for major companies.The Koledino area was previously targeted on July 28, when a fire broke out at the nearby Koledino3Pl logistics complex following a drone strike.Ukraine began targeting Wildberries infrastructure on July 18, according to Verstka. Over the following month, at least 22 of the marketplace’s warehouses were hit, with 19 reportedly significantly or completely destroyed.Among the facilities affected were major logistics centers in Elektrostal near Moscow and Aleksin in the Tula region.The reported damage represents about 2.395 million square meters of warehouse space, or 43% of Wildberries’ total warehouse capacity of approximately 5.6 million square meters, according to Verstka.The month-long attacks on Wildberries facilities reportedly killed at least 14 people and injured more than 100.As of Aug. 14, Data Insight estimated the value of goods destroyed in fires at affected Wildberries warehouses at 445-507 billion rubles ($5.24-5.96 billion). The Association of Suppliers of Goods for Trading on Electronic Platforms (APTEP) put the figure even higher, at 600-700 billion rubles ($7.06-8.24 billion).Data Insight estimated that Wildberries itself suffered 147-223 billion rubles ($1.7–2.6 billion) in direct losses.The damage has raised concerns about the wider impact on Russia’s e-commerce sector and the thousands of sellers who depend on Wildberries’ logistics network. Russia may not have sufficient funds to compensate affected sellers, according to a source close to the Kremlin cited by Reuters.The source said the damage to Wildberries, which controls roughly half of Russia’s e-commerce market, represented a “serious blow to the economy.”“There will be a wave of bankruptcies. No one has the kind of money to support sellers,” the source predicted.The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Aug. 16 that recent operations had disabled seven of Wildberries’ 10 largest logistics centers. The strikes are part of a sustained Ukrainian campaign against the Russian e-commerce giant, which accounts for about 10% of Russia’s retail sales.On Aug. 10-11, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) also targeted Wildberries’ digital infrastructure, disrupting customer services and payments.Kyiv says Wildberries is a legitimate military target because the platform sells goods used by Russian forces. While the company denies supplying the military, reports say dual-use items, including FPV drones and fiber-optic cables, were available on the marketplace in early August. Julia is a Deputy Head of News and correspondent for Kyiv Post who has previously worked as a parliamentary editor, journalist, and news editor. She has specialized in covering the work of the Ukrainian parliament, government, and law enforcement agencies.