Ukrainian drones have struck multiple warehouses across Russia, killing at least five people and injuring several others, as Kyiv ramps up its attacks on key Russian businesses in a bid to bring the war home to Moscow.
A drone sparked a fire at a distribution centre of Lenta, one of Russia’s largest food retailers, in the Leningrad region near St Petersburg, injuring at least one person. The company said that the blaze had since been extinguished.
Another warehouse run by Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries in Tver region was reportedly damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, with no workers injured and emergency services working at the scene, regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said.
In the Moscow region, a drone attack on the city of Chekhov set an unnamed warehouse alight and killed five people, the governor, Andrei Vorobyov, said. A further 10 people were injured.
Wildberries warehouses in Russia have become a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks in recent months, with Kyiv seeking to disrupt the operations of the company, which is often described as Russia’s answer to Amazon and is a linchpin of the consumer economy.
The attacks come as Wildberries announced plans to build new warehouses in Kazakhstan early next year, amid repeated strikes from Ukraine targeting the company’s logistics network inside Russia.
The Russian e-commerce giant is set to construct another 260,000 square metres of warehouse capacity in Kazakhstan in the coming months, according to Kazakhstan’s trade minister.
The new capacity is set to be commissioned in Q1 of next year, as Wildberries looks to expand its operations outside of Russia amid the ongoing conflict.
