‘All we could do was watch our merchandise burn’: Russian small business owners respond to losing their stock when Ukrainian drones hit two Wildberries warehouses

Meduza reports that Ukrainian drones struck two Wildberries warehouses on the night of July eighteenth — one outside Moscow, in Elektrostal, and one in the Tambov region — killing at least eight people and injuring more than eighty. Wildberries is one of Russia's largest online marketplaces, and the strike on its major logistics hub in Elektrostal sent a smoke plume drifting more than two hundred kilometers and damaged up to fifteen percent of the company's total warehouse space. According to Meduza, the fire destroyed merchandise belonging to thousands of independent sellers, some of whom estimate their losses in the millions of rubles. Meduza spoke with four affected entrepreneurs, including one who lost roughly two hundred ten PlayStation five consoles and is now selling his car to buy new inventory. With compensation from the platform uncertain and possibly years away, several said they are counting only on themselves to keep their businesses afloat.

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