(KYIV) – Ukraine destroyed three Wildberries logistics hubs in a single day across Russia, striking facilities in Perm, Penza, and Udmurtiya as the e-commerce giant’s collapse threatens to drain significant tax revenue from an already strained federal budget.
The marketplace, which accounts for approximately 3 percent of Russia’s GDP, has now lost half its distribution centres to drone strikes, according to Russian vloggers reporting on the campaign. Ukrainian operators set a new record with the triple strike, and Russian air defences failed to protect the strategic sites despite advance warning of repeated visits.
Russian sellers have lost an estimated $1.3 billion (approximately £1.02 billion), with no compensation mechanism proposed. Wildberries previously sold military products alongside consumer goods. Small business owners who survived tax increases imposed to fund the war are now facing collapse as the company blocks seller withdrawals.
Russia’s federal budget deficit stands at 7.2 trillion roubles (approximately $82.8 billion, £64.9 billion). Combined with rising bad corporate credit and inflation driven by the fuel crisis, analysts warn of a domino effect across the economy. Russian vloggers increasingly express disbelief at the air defence failures, a sentiment one commentator described as “almost a death sentence for a dictator.”
Meanwhile, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile travelled 93 kilometres inside Polish territory, leaving a large crater in an empty field. Polish and NATO authorities confirmed they tracked the missile but did not intercept it. The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s forces have previously sent drones and missiles into Poland, Romania, and reportedly Baltic states. The missile’s accuracy and deliberate targeting of an uninhabited area suggest a planned test of NATO response, exposing what critics call a failure to protect alliance airspace.
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