For more than two weeks, Ukrainian forces have been carrying out near-daily attacks on warehouses operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace.
At least eight people have been killed and dozens have been injured. Preliminary estimates put sellers’ losses at 280 billion rubles ($3.5 billion), Forbes Russia reported on Sunday. Since then, more warehouses have been attacked and given the resulting business closures and logistical disruptions, the cost is likely to rise substantially.
The attacks appear to be part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 40-day campaign to pressure Russia to make peace. Targeting Wildberries warehouses, alongside strikes on oil refineries and ports, are intended not only to weaken Russia’s economic capacity, bolster Ukrainian morale and generate international publicity, but also to provoke public discontent inside Russia over the war and declining living standards.
The campaign is bringing the war directly into the lives of Russians who have tried to ignore it — from makers of handmade candles and owners of family-run bakeries to residents of major cities accustomed to having almost anything delivered quickly and cheaply to pickup points near their homes.
