Russian entrepreneurs are facing significant losses after Ukrainian drone strikes targeted the warehouses of online retailer Wildberries. The attacks, which started on July 18, have destroyed inventory worth millions of dollars, leaving many small businesses struggling to recover.

Impact on Small Businesses

Viktoria Terekhova, a Russian fashion designer, lost 12,000 items of children’s clothing in the attacks, which accounted for about 45% of her company’s total inventory. Another 4,000 items were destroyed in attacks on Wildberries hubs in southern Russia. Terekhova’s company, Fareal Kids, relies heavily on Wildberries for sales, with up to 70% of its sales coming from the platform.

Oleg Kondratyev, co-founder of clothing brand Airbase, also suffered significant losses, with about 5 million roubles of stock destroyed in the warehouse attacks. Kondratyev plans to take legal action against Wildberries to recover his losses, despite the company’s terms of business exempting it from liability in cases of force majeure, including drone strikes.

Broader Implications

The attacks on Wildberries are part of a wider Ukrainian campaign to make ordinary Russians feel the impact of the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has stated that Kyiv is bringing the war back home to Russia, which continues to pound Ukrainian cities. The consequences of the attacks will be severe for thousands of Russian small businesses that use Wildberries as their main online marketplace.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.