Armenian businesses selling through Russia’s largest online marketplace Wildberries have been affected by Ukrainian drone strikes targeting the company’s logistics centres and warehouses, with many now uncertain whether they will be compensated for their losses.
Since 18 July, Ukraine has launched a series of long-range drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses across Russia. The attacks caused extensive material damage, killing at least eight workers and injuring around 80.
Wildberries remains one of the most widely used e-commerce platforms in Armenia, both for consumers and sellers.
In 2025, the company ranked as Armenia’s 39th-largest taxpayer, paying over ֏8 billion ($21 million) in taxes. However, it was absent from the State Revenue Committee’s list of the country’s 1,000 largest taxpayers for the first quarter of 2026.
The strikes came amid an intensification of Ukraine’s attacks against Russian logistics and military infrastructure. Since early July, Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities have contributed to fuel shortages in parts of Russia.
In a statement following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said Ukrainian long-range drones ‘successfully struck important targets’ in Russia, which he called ‘logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and other gear’.
‘We are, quite justly, bringing the war back home — to Russia’, Zelenskyi added.
On 21 July, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the situation facing Wildberries and the small and medium-sized businesses using the platform was ‘difficult’, adding that the Russian government was in contact with the company.
He also denied allegations that Wildberries warehouses were being used to supply the Russian military.
However, the BBC reported that Wildberries sells a range of military-related goods, including body armour, alongside products that have both civilian and drone-production applications. It also cited pro-war bloggers as saying that volunteers regularly purchase equipment through online marketplaces to send to the front, while noting there was no independent evidence that the warehouses targeted in the attacks stored such supplies.
The BBC also noted that the strikes disrupted the livelihoods of hundreds of Russian sellers who rely on online marketplaces, adding that Wildberries and its competitor Ozon are used by an estimated 85–90% of Russia’s economically active population.
The attacks have also heightened concerns over compensation.
Earlier in July, Wildberries amended its contracts with sellers, adding drone attacks to the list of force majeure events for which the company bears no liability.
Although Wildberries owner Tatyana Kim pledged not to ‘abandon’ sellers and announced temporary discounts and waived shipment fees, many merchants remain sceptical that they will receive compensation.
According to Forbes Russia, rebuilding just the first two damaged warehouses could cost ₽33 billion ($420 million). The outlet estimated sellers’ losses at no less than ₽150 billion ($1.9 billion), noting that compensating sellers in full would likely consume almost all of the company’s 2025 net profit, which is ₽175 billion ($2.2 billion).
RFE/RL reported that more than 10,000 Armenian businesses sell their products through Wildberries. Many of the sellers the outlet spoke to said they had received no clear information about compensation, while some feared any support measures would primarily benefit Russian businesses.
Gurgen Tadevosyan, who sells silver jewellery on Wildberries, estimated his losses at around ֏1.5 million ($3,900). Like many sellers, he had stored his products in several of the company’s warehouses across Russia, as required by Wildberries to speed up deliveries to customers. He now does not know whether his goods survived the attacks.
Donara Grigoryan, who sells household goods, also told RFE/RL she was unsure about the status of her assets.
‘I currently have products stored in seven warehouses, and two of them are now gone. That means I’m left hoping that the other five warehouses are still intact. I’m in such a state of panic now that I don’t know whether, when I wake up tomorrow morning, another warehouse will have been targeted overnight’, Grigoryan said.
After Wildberries revised its seller contracts, Grigoryan suspected that ‘something might happen’, though she never expected the scale of the destruction.
Grigoryan said Armenian sellers should organise collectively to ensure their concerns are heard and to press for equal treatment in any future compensation programme.
As uncertainty persists, Armenian influencers have sought to draw attention to the issue, urging sellers to share the codes of products still stored in Russian warehouses and encouraging consumers to order them in support of Armenian businesses.
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