Ukrainian Drones Hit Ozon Logistics Hubs in Russia as Marketplace Warehouses Come Under Sustained Attack

Ukrainian drones struck Ozon logistics facilities in Ufa and Orenburg overnight on Aug. 27, the Russian online marketplace said, as attacks on Russia’s major e-commerce infrastructure continue to disrupt warehouses across the country. Ozon said it evacuated all employees from the affected sites and that there were no casualties or fires.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The Ufa warehouse sustained “minor damage” and has been temporarily closed, with deliveries from sellers suspended. The Orenburg distribution center has resumed operations but will not accept some goods during the day, according to the company. The strikes follow a wave of attacks targeting Russia’s biggest online marketplaces. Since mid-July, more than 20 Wildberries distribution centers across 16 Russian regions have come under Ukrainian drone attack. At least seven of the company’s 10 largest warehouses have reportedly been knocked out of operation, including its main facility in Koledino, Moscow Oblast. Ozon has also increasingly become a target. Attacks began on Aug. 22 with a strike on a facility in Chapayevsk in Russia’s Samara region, followed the next day by an attack in Orenburg. On Aug. 24, four Ozon warehouses in Makhachkala, Krasnodar, Adygea and Nevinnomyssk were hit in a single night. Fires were reported at all four sites. The strikes have inflicted potentially hundreds of billions of rubles in losses on Russia’s e-commerce sector. Other Topics of Interest How Russia Finds the Cracks in American Society – and Widens Them Russia has a well-developed playbook for influence operations. Laura Loomer got sucked into one and eventually realized what happened. Ukraine inflicts heavy damage to Wildberries Analysts at Data Insight estimated Wildberries’ losses from destroyed warehouse inventory at 147–223 billion rubles ($1.8–2.8 billion), while sellers could have lost another 445–507 billion rubles ($5.5–6.3 billion). Total losses could reach 800 billion rubles ($10 billion). Ozon’s potential losses have been estimated at 30–62.5 billion rubles ($375–781 million), with sellers facing an additional 88.5–107 billion rubles ($1.1–1.3 billion) in losses. According to the same Data Insight estimate, Wildberries has lost around one-third of its warehouse space following repeated Ukrainian drone strikes. “Wildberries has almost run out of its biggest warehouses,” Data Insight analyst Sergei Semko told The New York Times. “Every single day one warehouse after another is getting methodically Tens of thousands of businesses have been affected. Separately, Reuters reported that at least 1.18 million square meters (292 acres) of Wildberries warehouse space had been damaged or destroyed. That amounts to more than one-fifth of its total capacity. One Moscow-based source told Reuters that his deliveries had fallen from around 400 parcels a day to about 150, adding that he was trying to sell his business. Ukraine has described Wildberries as a legitimate target due to them selling products with possible military use, such as first-person-view (FPV) drones and fiber-optic cables. Wildberries, however, denied supplying Russia’s armed forces, saying weapons and military equipment are prohibited from sale on its marketplace. The company accounts for around 10% of Russian retail sales, making it a significant contributor to Russia’s wartime economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to downplay the impact, saying Ukrainian drone attacks had caused Russia no “critical consequences.” Yet Putin also signed a decree allowing the Russian state to place businesses and facilities under temporary state control if their owners fail to protect them from drone strikes. The Kremlin said the measure was needed because businesses were not doing enough to protect strategically important facilities from attacks. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.