More Drone Strikes On Wildberries Warehouses Decimate Empire Of Russia’s Richest Woman

Key Points:

• Two distribution centers of Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce company owned by billionaire Tatyana Kim, were attacked by Ukrainian kamikaze drones in St. Petersburg, marking the seventh such strike in a week that has caused at least eight civilian deaths and dozens of injuries.
• Ukraine justifies the attacks by claiming Wildberries facilitates the distribution of military supplies to Russian forces, and the strikes are also seen as retaliation for Russian attacks on Ukrainian logistics centers.
• Wildberries, which employs 48,000 people and generated an estimated $9 billion in 2024 revenue, has pledged compensation to victims' families but faces significant operational disruption as more than half of its major distribution centers have been damaged or destroyed.
• The attacks have raised concerns about the vulnerability of large, densely packed warehouses to fire and drone strikes, with insurance policies reportedly not covering such "terrorist" attacks, complicating recovery efforts.
• Tatyana Kim, who founded Wildberries in 2004 and is Russia’s richest woman, is now challenged with rebuilding the company's logistics network amid continued Ukrainian drone strikes and geopolitical tensions.