About 1,500 sellers in Russia’s Leningrad Region lost their goods after attacks on a Wildberries warehouse. The governor promised them support.

About 1,500 Wildberries sellers in Russia’s Leningrad region lost their goods in a warehouse fire caused by Ukrainian drone attacks, according to the region’s governor, Aleksandr Drozdenko.“The company, for its part, is taking steps and trying to help — that’s the right thing to do. But we, as a region, will not abandon our producers,” Drozdenko wrote.The governor promised sellers preferential loans to replenish their working capital, “so that people don’t fall out of their entrepreneurial rhythm.” Should that measure prove insufficient, the regional government’s economic bloc is to “work out additional support measures,” though it remains unclear what that would involve.Drozdenko also said he had ordered the economic bloc to set up a headquarters to coordinate affected entrepreneurs, the marketplace, and the region, which will begin operating next week.Since mid-July, Ukraine’s armed forces have struck more than 10 Wildberries warehouses and logistics centers across Russia. The resulting fires destroyed sellers’ stored goods, leaving many without their only source of income. Sellers could lose at least 150 billion rubles — five times more than the marketplace itself — as of July 21, according to estimates by the Russian business daily Kommersant and the business magazine Forbes Russia.Wildberries has promised to support entrepreneurs and started paying compensation, but sellers have complained on social media that despite losses in the millions, they received only a few thousand rubles.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.