After several weeks of intensive attacks by Ukrainian drones that followed in response to the Russian strikes, the largest Russian online store Wildberries lost approximately a third of its warehouse space. The analytical company “Data Insight“ estimated the damage caused to the company and its partners at almost 900 billion rubles.
All this time, observers have been wondering why Ukrainian drones attacked only Wildberries, while its closest competitor Ozon was not affected. Now the picture is becoming clearer: apparently the Ukrainian military decided to act sequentially - first Wildberries, then Ozon. In the past few days, 5 sites of the second largest online store in Russia have already been attacked.
“After Ukrainian units hit the 15 largest logistics centers of Wildberries, it's Ozon's turn. Our long-range strikes are working impressively and effectively“, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported on its Telegram channel. The publication is illustrated with a photo of a burning warehouse in the Samara region.
What is known about the Ukrainian attacks on Ozon?
The drone attacks on Ozon's infrastructure began on August 22 and have since affected a significant part of the platform's logistics capabilities. The online retail company's warehouses in the Samara region, some of the largest in Central Russia, were hit. Later, warehouses were hit in Orenburg, in the village of Tyube near Makhachkala, in Enem near Krasnodar and near Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol Territory.
The total area of the attacked logistics centers is 426 thousand square meters - about 8.5% of the entire warehouse infrastructure of Ozon. The scale of the damage is still unclear. There are indications that a large warehouse in the Samara region may have been completely disabled. If Ukrainian drones continue to strike Ozon with the intensity we saw in the previous attacks on Wildberries, the damage will have to be assessed almost every day.
How resistant is Ozon to drone strikes?
The Wildberries warehouses seem like easier targets - due to their gigantic size. Ozon's infrastructure is organized differently: logistics facilities are smaller in size, but more numerous. This makes Ozon's logistics more resistant to point-blank strikes.
According to analysts from the investment company BKS, published on its website, Ozon will suffer less damage than Wildberries. The reason is not only the size of the logistics centers and their number, but also other features of the business model of the second largest marketplace in Russia.
„Ozon rents its warehouses from developers, which means that the risk associated with the property is shared between the owner and the insurer. The insurance of goods covers the fall of unmanned aerial vehicles if the incident is classified as a terrorist act or sabotage. In addition, some of the expensive goods were pre-distributed to the points of receipt of orders,“ analysts note.
But greater resilience does not mean complete invulnerability – the question is only what the damage will be and at whose expense it will be. In any case, restructuring logistics requires funds. The increase in costs, including for transportation, will ultimately be passed on to buyers. In this regard, the governor of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina has warned in the meantime that prices on e-commerce markets may rise.
Can Ozon and Wildberries count on state aid?
The Russian authorities promise online platforms assistance in overcoming the consequences of the attacks. For the state, this is a necessity, not a gesture of goodwill – the importance of these platforms for the economy is too great. The total turnover of Wildberries and Ozon in 2025 exceeded 10 trillion rubles - with about 60 trillion rubles of the total retail trade volume in the country. The two companies have a dominant position in the online retail market: according to independent estimates, Wildberries' share is 45%, and Ozon's - about 30%.
But will the state's help be generous enough? On August 19, Vladimir Putin said that “logistics and warehouse facilities require reconstruction, including with the participation of the state“ . At the same time, he emphasized that “reconstruction must be carried out at a qualitatively new technological level“. In other words, it must be built so that warehouses do not burn like matchboxes.
However, comments from government officials make it clear that construction will have to be carried out entirely at the expense of companies. For example, the Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Irek Fayzulin assured that companies can only count on his ministry's accelerated consideration of new projects. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, announced tax breaks for the Wildberries company and its partners, who should “focus on recovery, replenishment of stocks and resumption of supplies“.
A new nationalization?
Ozon can probably count only on such assistance, which was expected against the backdrop of the huge federal budget deficit, which in the first seven months of the year has already exceeded the budget deficit planned for the whole year by 1.7 times. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the security of critical infrastructure sites, including logistics ones - their management could be temporarily taken over by the state if the authorities decide that the owners are not coping with their protection. And many are wondering if this is not a new nationalization.
Author: Oleg Loginov