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Wildberries Orders Smartphone Ban for Warehouse Workers Following Drone Attacks
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Russian online retailer Wildberries has banned employees from bringing smartphones into its warehouse facilities beginning August 3, according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti, which cited an internal company notice.
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The notice states that taking photos or recording videos during an air raid alert “poses a threat to security, may reveal the positions of air defense forces, violates the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, and may result in administrative or, in certain cases, criminal liability.”
Under the new rules, employees are only permitted to carry basic mobile phones without cameras, which the company said would “allow them to remain in contact with their loved ones.”
The move comes after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries logistics centers, which Ukrainian officials say have disrupted Russian military supply chains.
Speaking during an ArmyTV broadcast on August 1, Yurii Fedorenko, commander of Ukraine's 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade, said the attacks had destroyed large stockpiles of components used for Russian drone operations, forcing military units to ration equipment.
“The enemy and its specialized units were forced to introduce limits on the use of unmanned drones. Cameras, propellers, controllers, batteries, and other components needed for manufacturing and upgrading drones burned in huge quantities at the warehouses that were struck,” Fedorenko said.
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Overall, as of August 2, Ukrainian drone strikes have rendered 16 of Wildberries’ largest logistics hubs inoperable over the past two weeks, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the company's biggest warehouse complexes.
Russian Forbes estimated that the disruptions have already caused approximately $3.5 billion in losses for sellers using the platform, with hundreds of thousands of businesses potentially affected.
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