In early August 2026, Ukrainian drone strikes hit three warehouses across Russia, killing five people, according to local officials. Several of the warehouses belonged to Wildberries, Russia's largest online shopping company. The attacks spread across several regions and led Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Kim to call them "acts of terrorism" against civilians. Reuters

The worst strike hit a Wildberries warehouse in Novosemeykino, in the Samara region, on August 2, 2026. A day later, on August 3, a Wildberries warehouse in the Vladimir region caught fire after another Ukrainian drone attack. A third Wildberries warehouse, in Russia's Tula region, caught fire following a drone attack reported on August 4–5. Reuters

A earlier strike had already shown that Wildberries buildings were at risk. A warehouse near St. Petersburg caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack on July 24, 2026, about one week before the August wave. Reuters

Kim said more casualties had come from the strikes, though she did not give a number beyond the five deaths confirmed by local officials. She also promised that Wildberries would "not abandon" the sellers affected by the strikes. Thousands of small businesses store their products in these warehouses to sell through the Wildberries website. BBC

The broader context is that these attacks mark a shift in Ukraine's drone war against Russia. Until now, Ukraine had mostly used long-range drones to hit military targets like fuel depots and ammunition dumps. These new strikes focused instead on a commercial company — one that processes millions of everyday shopping orders. Hitting these warehouses disrupts the supply of ordinary consumer goods, not military supplies.

Kim's choice to call the attacks terrorism raises the political stakes. By using that word, she suggested that Wildberries was not just caught in the crossfire but was deliberately targeted because of its civilian workers and business operations. That argument fits with Moscow's broader claim that Ukraine's drone campaign puts ordinary people in danger. Kyiv has not responded directly to the Wildberries strikes specifically.

The locations of the attacks also tell a story. The targeted warehouses were in four regions — Samara, Vladimir, Tula, and Leningrad — stretching from the Volga River to the Baltic Sea. This spread suggests that Ukrainian drones can reach deep into western and central Russia, not just areas near the border.

What remains unclear is why Wildberries was hit. It may have been chosen on purpose, or its warehouses may have been struck simply because they are large, bright, and easy to spot from the sky. Neither Ukrainian nor Russian officials have explained the reasoning. What is certain is the pattern: over two weeks, at least four Wildberries warehouses were hit, five people died, and the company says more were hurt.

For the small businesses that sell through Wildberries, the impact is immediate. Products stored in the damaged warehouses may be gone for good, and delays spread across the whole platform. Kim's promise to stand by affected sellers shows she knows the company's success depends on those businesses trusting that their goods are safe in Wildberries warehouses.