Ukraine is continuing its deep strikes into Russian territory, this time targeting a new sector of the country’s economy. A Ukrainian drone attack in St Petersburg (Russia) and the surrounding area on Friday 24 July targeted warehouses belonging to Wildberries, an e-commerce giant nicknamed “the Russian Amazon”. The company had already been targeted on Saturday, and again during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday in southern Russia. At least eight people died in these strikes.
Four years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv now has “the technological opportunity and the capabilities” to strike Russian targets far from the front line, Ulrich Bounat, a research associate at Euro Créative and author of *Hybrid War in Ukraine: What Are the Prospects?*, told franceinfo. Targeting e-commerce – which lies at the heart of the Russian economy and everyday life – is “a way of surprising and destabilising” an adversary accustomed to other types of strikes, particularly those on refineries. There are also several reasons, both military and economic, behind these new attacks on the “Russian Amazon”.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, took to X to comment on the strikes that targeted Russian logistics centres on Saturday. He explained that this was a “response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure, our towns and our communities”. According to the UN, June was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine since spring 2022.
According to the independent Russian-language media outlet Meduza, these strikes in Russia are a retaliation for attacks on the Ukrainian postal service Nova Poshta, which was targeted on 16 July, among other occasions, according to the news website. On Sunday, a further strike in Ukraine, targeting a Nova Poshta terminal near Kharkiv, left four people dead and twenty injured, the UN reports.
"The postal service [in Ukraine] has numerous warehouses, and strikes targeting this infrastructure have become more frequent," Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine Forum at the British think tank Chatham House, told franceinfo. "This is the nature of total war, of a war of attrition: the economy is mobilised for the war effort, which broadens the list of targets deemed legitimate for military purposes," she continues.
In his post on X, Volodymyr Zelensky also stated that the “major logistics facilities” targeted in Russia on Saturday were used to “supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment”. “Ukraine is capable of carrying out these long-range strikes, and it must disrupt Russian production of drones and ballistic missiles,” emphasises Orysia Lutsevych. This involves “targeting the logistics involved in the manufacture or transport of drone components”.
The Wildberries platform is also used to purchase military equipment, Serhii Kuzan, president of the Ukrainian Centre for Security and Cooperation, told the BBC. Russians are buying walkie-talkies, drone components and even bulletproof vests on the platform, says this former adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. “Reels of fibre-optic cable” can also be found there, adds Ulrich Bounat.
Moscow denies that e-commerce is being used for military purposes in Ukraine. However, Russian bloggers, quoted by the BBC, claim that equipment is being purchased by volunteers on these websites before being sent to the front line.
By targeting Wildberries, Kyiv is now causing concern amongst retailers in Russia, reports *Le Monde*. Could they, in turn, become targets for Ukrainian drones? In the meantime, the recent strikes are directly affecting small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia, and thus a large number of retailers. According to the independent media outlet The Moscow Times, several of these business owners have spoken out on social media in recent days, denouncing the loss of their stock and income as a result of these attacks.
"A large part of my stock has gone, but the taxes, wages and commitments to manufacturers and our staff are still there," lamented Alisa Goldberg, an entrepreneur, on Instagram. "I’m ruined. My entire clothing collection has burnt down," added Anastasia, a Russian shopkeeper.
"The Ukrainian attacks ‘won’t bring Wildberries to its knees, but there is a desire to hurt the Russian economy’," says Ulrich Bounat. "There will be problems with supply, slowdowns in supply chains and inflation," the researcher continues.
Wildberries and another platform, Ozon, are widely used by Russians, according to the BBC. The Ukrainian attacks and footage of them are therefore reaching a vast audience, whether directly or indirectly. “Between these strikes and those on the refineries, the war has now become part of everyday life for Russians,” says Ulrich Bounat. “There is no going back, and Russians must learn to live with it.”
This may well be the psychological effect Kiev is hoping to achieve, after more than four years of Russian invasion. Is the hope that the Russians will become more critical of the war being waged in Ukraine? In any case, Orysia Lutsevych concludes, “I think this campaign [of strikes] will continue”.
An article written by Valentine Pasquesoone (France Télévisions), initially published on 24 July 2026, 06:12 (CEST)