Wildberries' largest warehouse in the village of Koleidino near Podolsk in the Moscow region was completely destroyed in a drone strike, according to a satellite image published by the Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+, which showed the facility "reduced to ruins." The complex, covering between 230,000 and 250,000 square meters, was the company's biggest hub and a key node in its logistics network.
Over the past month, since July 18, at least 22 Wildberries warehouses have been hit, with 19 significantly or completely burned, according to the Russian outlet Verstka. The destroyed facilities include major logistics centers in Elektrostal, Moscow region, and Aleksin, Tula region. The Moscow Times reported that the lost space totals 2.395 million square meters, or 43% of the company's total warehouse capacity of 5.6 million square meters.
Sergei Semko, an analyst at Data Insight, estimated that goods worth 78 billion rubles were destroyed in the Koleidino fire. The hub had ensured delivery times of "one to two days" for Moscow and the Moscow region, he told RBC.
At least 14 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the month of attacks on Wildberries facilities. As of August 14, Data Insight valued the goods destroyed at the affected warehouses at 445–507 billion rubles, while the Association of Suppliers of Goods for Trade on Electronic Platforms (APTEH) put the figure at 600–700 billion rubles. The company's direct losses were estimated by Data Insight at 147–223 billion rubles.
Major e-commerce companies have asked the government to provide free financial aid from the federal budget to compensate sellers for losses from the drone attacks. In some regions, authorities have offered microloans as a support measure.
Russia lacks sufficient funds to rescue affected Wildberries sellers, a source close to the Kremlin told Reuters. The source said the damage to the marketplace, which controls half of Russia's e-commerce market, was "a serious blow to the economy." "There will be a wave of bankruptcies. No one has the money to support sellers," the source predicted.