The Ukrainian military struck warehouses belonging to Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, in the third such attack in a week, as Kyiv continues to expand its retaliatory long-range strike campaign in an effort to force Moscow into negotiations.The company's CEO and owner, Tatyana Kim, reported that facilities in the southern cities of Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk were hit in the Ukrainian strikes. Local authorities said at least 10 people were injured.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the attacks, saying that they targeted logistics centers "involved in supplying the Russian military with drone components, navigation equipment, and other gear."Pictures and videos posted online show pillars of smoke rising from the area where Wildberries warehouses are located.
The latest strikes on the retailer mark a flurry of such attacks in recent days, with Ukrainian drones targeting its facilities in the Moscow and Volgograd regions. Those hits left eight workers dead.Often referred to as Russia's equivalent of Amazon, Wildberries started as an online retailer of apparel from European catalogs. Since then, it has expanded into a marketplace featuring a wide range of products sold by third-party vendors.The developments come as Kyiv steps up its deep strikes on energy and military infrastructure inside Russia, attacking facilities up to 1,000 kilometers from its border.Referred to by Zelenskyy as "long-range sanctions" against Moscow, the attacks have caused nationwide fuel shortages in Russia, stoking discontent among Russians who were previously unaffected by the war, now well into its fifth year.Besides Wildberries warehouses, Zelenskyy said on July 22 that Ukraine targeted an oil depot and a tanker inside Russia, adding that Moscow "must be forced to move towards diplomacy."
