‘The only thing we could do was watch our merchandise burn’: Russian small business owners react to losing stock as Ukrainian drones attack two Wildberries warehouses

On the night of July 18, Ukrainian drones attacked two Wildberries warehouses, one on the outskirts of Moscow and another in the Tambov region. At least eight people were killed and more than 80 injured. An attack hit the company’s main logistics center at Elektrostal, causing a plume of smoke to travel more than 200 kilometers (nearly 125 miles) and damaging up to 15 percent of the company’s total warehouse space. The firefighters had not yet extinct the fire a day later. The fire destroyed the merchandise of thousands of vendors along with the facilities themselves. Some sellers estimate their losses in the millions of rubles and are struggling to find the money to keep their businesses afloat. Bereg spoke with four businessmen whose goods were stored in the Elektrostal warehouse. They talked about the first hours after the fire, the magnitude of their losses and their efforts to save their businesses. Meduza publishes this full article.

alexey

Owner of an electronics store in Wildberries

I found out about the fire almost immediately because I have a friend who works at the warehouse. he called [that night] and said: “Here they are hitting us with drones.” At first I didn’t believe him, then I started checking and it was true: there had been a drone attack and a fire had broken out. I got into my car immediately and drove over.

When I got there, they wouldn’t let anyone through: the area was cordoned off, so the only thing I could do was watch my merchandise burn. I stayed there for about five hours. I saw other sellers, but I didn’t really talk to them. They were also panicking, not knowing what to do, calling people. Everyone tried in every way to get their goods out, but nothing worked.

I had a shipment of PlayStation 5 consoles in the warehouse: approximately 210 units. My preliminary estimate puts the losses at between 10 and 12 million rubles at retail value. The exact figure is still being calculated; I am currently checking my inventory, purchasing records, and data on what was actually in the warehouse at the time of the fire.

This is a huge blow to my business: a large shipment that I had invested working capital in was destroyed. Overall, the business had been profitable: I was able to recoup my investments and gradually expand it, which is why I decided to keep such a large shipment in the warehouse in the first place.

[After the fire at the Elektrostal warehouse] I put my car up for sale. I plan to use the proceeds from the sale. [2.8 million rubles] buy new inventory so I can get back up to speed and continue operating as quickly as possible. I don’t want to stop selling completely; On the contrary, I want to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.

So far I am managing without loans and I hope to continue like this. Right now the main task is to rebuild my product line and continue working despite everything that has happened.

The merchandise was not separately insured. As I understand it, there is an investigation underway. [with Wildberries] right now, so it’s too early to draw final conclusions. Of course, I hope that Wildberries assigns responsibility appropriately and that the sellers are compensated for their losses. There are still open questions about the compensation itself and when it might arrive.

I can’t say for sure why this particular warehouse was attacked; That is for the relevant authorities to determine. But if you had to reason it, a major warehouse is a key logistics center through which huge volumes of goods pass, and thousands of sellers depend on its operation. It is so striking that it inflicts economic damage and disrupts supply chains, and also attracts a lot of public attention. That’s just my assumption as an affected seller. I can’t say anything else [about whether the Ukrainian military’s strikes on Wildberries warehouses are justified].

arina

Owner of a women’s clothing brand, own production.

We have been in the clothing business since 2023 and in general business since 2020; Before that, we had a different company. In the Elektrostal warehouse we had around 1,135 items. We have not yet calculated the exact losses, but we are talking about more than 600,000 rubles.

I read about the fire on the morning of [July 18] on Telegram channels. It was initially unclear whether the warehouse had completely burned. This is not the first time something like this has happened: there was a fire in an Ozon warehouse before, then one at a warehouse of wild berries in Shushari. We had assets there too, but we didn’t lose much stock in those previous fires, so we didn’t take out any loans.

When it became clear that the Elektrostal warehouse was going to burn down completely, a feeling of new disappointment arose. It was very unpleasant. I will refrain from answering why Elektrostal specifically [was hit by the drones].

We used to be able to make a profit with Wildberries. We work in the mass market segment and, in 2023, that type of product was sold online almost exclusively on Wildberries, which is why we chose that platform.

But as of July 2026, the math no longer works. They increased the commission to 43.5 percent, and in addition to other fees, the marketplace ends up taking about 70 percent of an item’s price. The remaining 30 percent has to cover production costs, taxes, etc. This is why it has become very difficult to make a product that is both good quality and affordable.

At this point, it seems that selling through our own website would actually be more profitable: the price for customers could be lower than at Wildberries and we, as producers, could theoretically earn more.

We had already started strategizing to leave Wildberries and move to our own site before the fire. But it’s not easy to quickly exit a platform and attract customers on your own. We’re in the middle of that process now and seeing how it goes.

I don’t think we should count on compensation from the company. At least not in the short term. This could go on for years. How will they even calculate compensation? Nothing is known yet.

We only have ourselves: the platform establishes conditions that push us to leave, and that has nothing to do with the burning of the warehouses. For us as entrepreneurs, the decisive blow was the commission increase of 10 percentage points that came into effect on July 7. They didn’t notify us until July 1st.

The items we had planned for the fall and the ones we had been selling before do not make any profit with a commission like that.

Olga

Owner of a business selling craft kits for children.

We are still calculating the exact size of our losses. We found out about the fire through seller chats. Then I opened Instagram and the news was the first thing I saw. My first reaction was surprise: a new shipment was supposed to be delivered to that warehouse that same day. I immediately wrote to find out if any employees had been injured, since deliveries there are also made at night.

It was terrifying to see pictures of the fire and read about the people who died. The magnitude of what happened was astonishing.

After that, we record all remaining inventory in our warehouses and keep the records. We also organized the transfer of goods to other warehouses, since a significant part of our stock was in Elektrostal and Kotovsk.

However, none of our obligations have disappeared. We still have to pay our suppliers and the fulfillment center, cover new purchases and pay off loans. I can’t yet say how long it will take to make up for the losses; It depends on many factors.

I can’t say anything [about the idea that the Ukrainian military struck the warehouses in retaliation for Russian attacks on “Nasha Pochta”].

tatiana

Owner of a women’s clothing brand.

We have our own production and that is what burned in the fire. At cost [our losses] It is 2 million rubles, but if you take into account future profits, it is 6 million.

We have been in business since 2024 and Wildberries is our main sales channel.

my husband found out [about the drone attack] from the news and he told me in the morning. Of course, we were shocked, there was a feeling of despair. So [we realized] We would manage somehow, since we still have goods in other warehouses. The hard thing is that we, like everyone else, have taxes and loans to pay, and this happens. Honestly, we’re still in shock.

We will probably never receive any compensation; For now it’s just…

The business used to be profitable overall – our margins are good. We produce everything ourselves and that is what allows us [turn a profit]. But Wildberries’ increased commissions are definitely complicating things.

For now we plan to continue selling Wildberries (we still have stock in other warehouses), but we won’t be sewing anything new before the end of summer. We will also see other platforms; Lamoda is one of the short-term options.

[Without compensation] We will not have money for production or we will have to take out another loan, and we would prefer not to, since we are already in debt. So the only option left is to try to recover at least some of the money through the courts.