Russia’s second-largest e-commerce company, Ozon, was forced to evacuate its warehouse in the town of Zelenodolsk in the Tatarstan region due to a Ukrainian drone alert.

Details of the Incident

The evacuation took just a few minutes to complete and there were no casualties. The logistics centre was undamaged and has since resumed operations, the company said. A video verified by Reuters showed a plume of white smoke rising next to a blue-coloured Ozon warehouse.

Ukraine has attacked at least a dozen warehouses belonging to Ozon’s main rival, Wildberries, since July 18 in a bid to disrupt the operations of the company, a linchpin in Russia’s consumer economy. Ozon warned on Thursday of potential risks to its own infrastructure, and some analysts suggested it was just a matter of time before Ukraine began targeting Ozon warehouses too.

Ozon and Wildberries warehouses are located next to each other in many locations – including Zelenodolsk – and it was not clear on Friday which of the warehouses Ukraine was targeting. Ukrainian drone forces commander Robert Brovdi posted a cryptic message on Telegram on Friday however, which looked like a reference to Ozon in which he said that “the ozone concentration exceeds the critical norm.”

EU Sanctions and Impact

Ukraine’s targeting of Wildberries facilities appears to be part of Kyiv’s attempts to ensure ordinary Russians feel the impact of the war which has raged on Ukrainian territory for more than four years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also described the Wildberries targets as logistics hubs involved in supplying Russian forces with drone components and other equipment.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Ozon and Wildberries’ financial units on July 24. Ozon said its unit does not operate outside Russia and does not have any overseas assets.

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