“Millions Watched Billions Burn”: Ukraine Hits Wildberries Warehouses Across Russia and Crimea

Ukrainian long-range drones struck two major Wildberries logistics centers near St. Petersburg and a third facility in temporarily occupied Crimea overnight on July 24, extending a campaign that Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces says has now destroyed five warehouses belonging to the Russian e-commerce giant.

Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, confirmed the strikes on social media. Videos collected by the OSINT community Exilenova+ showed extensive fires and damage at several locations.

“Several million people watched billions burn,” the commentary accompanying the footage said. “Billions that could have been spent on the war.”

One of the targets was the Wildberries complex in Shushary, inside St. Petersburg’s Pushkinsky district. The sprawling logistics center covers approximately 106,000 square meters, or about 1.14 million square feet, and serves as a major processing and distribution hub for northwestern Russia.

Drones also struck the Utkina Zavod logistics park in Novosaratovka, just beyond St. Petersburg’s administrative boundary in the Leningrad region. The approximately 210,000-square-meter complex—more than 2.2 million square feet—functions as a distribution hub for several companies, including Wildberries.

Wildberries confirmed that operations at both locations had been halted.

“Operations at the Wildberries logistics complexes in Shushary and Utkina Zavod have been temporarily suspended,” the company said.

The strikes were reportedly carried out using long-range FP-1 drones developed by Ukrainian manufacturer Fire Point. Russia scrambled fighter aircraft during the attack, while Leningrad regional authorities claimed air defenses intercepted 59 UAVs.

Despite those claims, footage showed fires at the logistics sites, while regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko also acknowledged damage at a warehouse complex belonging to the Severnaya poultry farm in Sinyavino. Part of one warehouse reportedly collapsed.

A Wildberries sorting center in temporarily occupied Simferopol was also attacked overnight, sparking a major fire and forcing personnel to leave the facility.

“The company’s sorting center in Simferopol was evacuated in accordance with safety requirements,” Wildberries said.

Wildberries, often described as Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, has previously been identified by Ukrainian officials and security analysts as a platform through which Russian military personnel and volunteer organizations procure dual-use electronics, drone components, communications equipment, body armor, and other supplies.

Previously, open-source data analysis found that the recent attacks damaged roughly 10% of Wildberries' logistics capacity. That amounts to 552,000 square meters (5.9 million square feet) of warehouse space.

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