Ukraine Alerting Russians to Pain Caused by Putin's War

Smoke rises from a fire at Wildberries' logistics complex in Elektrostal, outside Moscow, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone attack on July 18, 2026. (Tatyana Makeyeva / AFP / Getty Images)

 

"Well, starting last Saturday and just about every day since, Ukrainian drones have struck these giant warehouses belonging to Wildberries, causing massive fires to facilities outside of Moscow, outside of St. Petersburg and several cities in the south of Russia."

"The costs have come in lives. At least nine workers are dead, dozens more injured, several of whom were migrant workers from Central Asia. But of course, there's also material costs."

"Wildberries is Russia's largest online retailer. And its warehouses are full of goods from small and mid-size Russian businesses, who have taken to social media to say these attacks have caused their financial ruin."

Charles Maynes, NPR, Moscow  

"Yet another flood of videos from Russians weeping over the ‘shock’ and ‘unfairness’ of strikes on a Wildberries warehouse."

"​It doesn’t cross their minds how unfair it felt when we were just living our lives, bothering no one, in our own country and our own homes, right up until their missiles started tearing our cities apart on a chilly winter morning."

Kateryna Bohuslavska – who posts on X as “Kate from Kharkiv”  

 

"In Russia, official procedures mostly only cover arms procurement."

"So military units and individual soldiers need to buy a lot of things themselves: uniforms, food, gasoline, electric power generators, drones, cars, motorcycles, spare parts… that’s why it is possible to buy goods necessary for warfare on Wildberries." 

Pavel Luzin, senior fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis 

Smoke rises from a Wildberries facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 24 after a Ukrainian drone attack. Reuters verified this social media image by matching building and other details with satellite imagery. The founder of Wildberries also confirmed there was an attack on the facility. (Social media/Reuters)

 

  A fire sending smoke pouring over St. Petersburg early Friday was caused by Ukrainian drones hitting a warehouse for a Russian e-commerce giant. St. Petersburg has been targeted by Kyiv stepping up its long-range drone strikes on Russian energy, military and logistic sites in recent weeks. Retribution for Moscow's nightly drone and missile barrages aimed at Ukrainian cities. Russian strikes at civilian targets throughout Ukraine have aimed at depressing morale of the Ukrainian population, a war crime in and of itself. Russians have never, until recently, had to face the reality that Ukrainians have lived with for over four years.

 

This was not supposed to happen. Russian President Vladimir Putin imagined a swift and easy invasion of a country incapable of defending itself. The Ukrainian response proved otherwise, rising from an initial determination to defend itself against superior numbers and weaponry, to the present where necessity drove Ukraine to invent its own military hardware capable of withstanding Russia's aerial attacks and in good time a counteroffensive to knock Russia's military back from its steady advances, to the point where Ukraine not only held its own, but retook some of its sovereign territory from rapacious Russian occupation.

 

Most recently, Russian forces were put to the test of shooting down 571 Ukrainian drones over a dozen regions, including Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russian annexed in 2014 when it began its revanchist Greater Russia enterprise. More latterly, grey smoke rose into the morning sky over highrise residential buildings in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's hometown, located over 800 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. 

 

A Wildberries warehouse, for Russia's largest online retailer referred to as 'Russia's Amazon" was set on fire following the strike. The third such overnight strike on a Wildberries installation by Ukraine forces over the course of a single week. Eight night shift workers last week were killed at Wildberries sites when one of the company's main warehouses came under attack and burned to the ground, just outside Moscow. 

 

A Wildberries collection point in Moscow. The platform is popular among lower-income Russians and its network of collection points extends into small towns and villages. Photograph: Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters

 

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the facilities were used to "supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment". This bombing campaign is one of "long-range sanctions"; Kyiv adding that the attacks are justified retribution for nightly drones Russia sends along with missile barrages everywhere in Ukraine, targeting its cities since February of 2022 when the ground invasion of Ukraine began.

 

Nationwide fuel shortages have arisen thanks to the campaign, undeniably taking its toll on Russia's financial war account. Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg was forced to suspend flights throughout the attack, disrupting 50 departures. Two of Wildberries warehouses in the city temporarily halted their business operations.  

 

Recent months have seen escalations of long-range strikes by both Russia and Ukraine. Increasing ballistic missile numbers have been fired at Kyiv, killing dozens of residents, while ripping open apartment blocks and destroying neighbourhoods. Leading perhaps to a turnabout in attitude, when U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to back Ukraine's counterattacks on Russia; naming the strikes "an escalation that can lead to an end".

 

June of 2026, according to the United Nations, has seen a surge in civilian deaths; the deadliest month since mid-2022.  

"Russians found out their country is waging a war. The next step is for them to realize who is responsible for all the damage caused to Russia (Putin)."

"Wildberries is no longer just an online marketplace for clothing and household goods. The platform sells weapons, body armor, drones, drone components, and fiber-optics used for drones."

"All of these items are used in the war against Ukraine and help kill Ukrainians. That is why such facilities are legitimate military targets for Ukraine’s Armed Forces."

Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian social media influencer  

Remains of the Wildberries warehouse that burned down after a recent Ukrainian drone attack in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the city of Elektrostal in the Moscow region, Russia July 23, 2026. Photo by Stringer TPX Reuters

 

"[The warehouse attacks added to the pain of small businesses, which in recent years have been] struggling very badly, [while probably causing only] relatively slight [damage to the industry and the economy in general; effectively stagnant, but stable]."

"[It's about] undermining public morale, and getting people to talk much more [about the war and question the Kremlin's actions]."

"[For years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people largely appeared complacent about the fighting.] It was something that was happening a long way off. [But that has changed this year, with regular strikes on oil refineries in parts of Russia leading to the massive fires, and now Wildberries]."

"There is now much more awareness, but there's also much more discussion, and more people are questioning what's going on and why is it happening and the conflict lasting so long. It brings it home."

Chris Weafer, CEO, Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy