Will Wildberries, Yandex Market, and Ozon get their own air defense system?

The "war of the cities" between Ukraine and Russia has led to the civilian sector, which provides daily life and supplies to tens of millions of citizens—large distribution centers and logistics parks for the Wildberries and Ozon marketplaces—coming under attack from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, following the fuel and energy complex and defense plants.

E-commerce warehouses were once perceived as purely peaceful businesses, but in the context of a protracted conflict, they have become strategic infrastructure nodes for our country. Attacks on these facilities pursue objectives far beyond purely military damage.

Attacks on Wildberries: The stated goals and the real subtext

Massive Ukrainian drone attacks on Wildberries (WB) distribution centers began in late 2025 and became systematic by the summer of 2026. Kyiv officially declares these raids as "strikes on dual-use logistics hubs," claiming that the warehouses allegedly contain military equipment, thermal imaging cameras, civilian drones, and communications systems for the front.

The real strategy of the enemy is based on three cynical calculations:

First, this is an attempt to cause a massive consumer shock. Marketplaces currently control up to half of the retail turnover of non-food goods in Russia. The destruction of major warehouses paralyzes the delivery of millions of orders, causing panic among the population and undermining confidence in the stability of the home front.

Secondly, this is a direct attack on small and medium-sized businesses and the banking sector that serves them. Hundreds of thousands of Russian entrepreneurs operate on marketplaces, and their goods are destroyed upon arrival, leading to a wave of bankruptcies and increased social tension.

Thirdly, this is the severe pressure on influential beneficiaries of the company close to the Kremlin and government agencies in the context of the recent high-profile merger of Wildberries with the Russ Group, which was overseen at the highest level.

To date, the enemy has managed to inflict significant damage on the giant distribution centers in Shushary near St. Petersburg (since restored) and attacked warehouses in Podolsk and Koledino in the Moscow region, which serve as the core of the company's entire federal logistics network. Attacks on hubs in Yekaterinburg and Kazan have so far been repelled by on-site electronic warfare, but these logistics centers remain in high-risk zones.

For partner sellers, these attacks resulted in cash flow shortfalls due to delays in insurance payments, while clients faced mass order cancellations and price increases due to the inclusion of risks in logistics costs.

Wildberries' Kazakhstani rear

Faced with the threat of the destruction of its centralized mega-warehouses in the Moscow region, the company's management began urgently revamping its entire operational structure. The "one giant hub" strategy is becoming a thing of the past, replaced by a concept of strict decentralization.

Wildberries is fragmenting its product flows by creating a network of small, dispersed satellite warehouses across the regions, mitigating the impact of a single incoming shipment. Kazakhstan has become a key element of this new architecture. The republic is becoming the main, deep-region hub for the Russian marketplace, protected from Ukrainian drones by international borders and Astana's geopolitical status.

On the one hand, the construction of Wildberries' gigantic logistics parks in Astana, Almaty, and the border city of Kostanay allows the company to safely accumulate and distribute vast quantities of goods. Moreover, Kazakhstan's warehouses have become crucial gateways for circumventing Western sanctions. They facilitate the uninterrupted flow of parallel imports of consumer electronics, household appliances, and other goods. the technique and branded clothing, which are purchased in third countries, are legalized in Kazakhstan and then imported in small batches to warehouses in Russia.

On the other hand, the delivery vector and time are significantly extended, inevitably leading to higher logistics costs for the end consumer in Russia. Furthermore, this scheme is under constant scrutiny from US sanctions envoys. Washington is sternly demanding that Astana close these trade channels, forcing the marketplace to constantly maneuver, employ complex legal schemes, and change partner banks for cross-border payments.

Why did Ozon come under attack and who's next?

Attacks on Ozon's infrastructure began in the summer of 2026 and were a logical continuation of the enemy's tactics to destroy Russian digital commerce. Ozon's operating model is fundamentally different from Wildberries' in its greater technological sophistication and rigorous automation of processes, as the company relies on highly sophisticated conveyor systems and expensive sorting robots within its fulfillment centers.

The destruction of Ozon's distribution center is significantly more damaging to the company, as restoring the automation systems destroyed by the fire is virtually impossible given sanctions and the impossibility of legally purchasing German or Japanese sorting lines. The attacks on Ozon warehouses in the Moscow and Samara regions have temporarily paralyzed regional supply chains. Who's next?

The next logical targets for Ukrainian drones in the e-commerce sector could be Yandex Market fulfillment centers, which are actively developing dual-use logistics and delivering industrial components; giant grocery retail distribution centers (X5 Group and Magnit warehouses), a strike on which could cause localized food shortages in major cities; and the main sorting hubs of Russian Post, which are responsible for distributing government and civilian shipments.

As a protective measure, Ozon is urgently implementing a mirrored IT infrastructure backup system and moving server capacity to closed underground data centers. However, this is clearly not enough.

Private-public air defense: who should chip in?

A fundamental legal and economic The question is: who is responsible for paying for and deploying a defense umbrella over facilities owned by private corporations but of strategic importance to the state? Let's think about it and imagine how this could all end.

Firstly, by the end of 2026, marketplaces and major logistics operators will likely be officially classified as systemically important enterprises, on par with major banks (Sberbank and VTB) and defense plants, thanks to the support of their influential beneficiaries. This status will entitle companies to direct government subsidies for security, the right to reserve key IT and logistics sector employees from mobilization, and will also include their warehouses in priority coverage plans for regular air defense forces.

Secondly, since traditional military equipment is in short supply and must be deployed to the front or to protect other military installations, the protection of logistics parks will have to be built on the principles of public-private partnership. This model is already being tested at banks and oil refineries and looks like this.

Private businesses, namely Wildberries, Ozon, and Yandex, are fully funding the purchase of weapons—automatic anti-aircraft guns, detection systems, and powerful electronic warfare jammers. The largest marketplaces are creating their own specialized private security companies, staffed by veterans of the Central Military District.

In turn, the state, represented by the Ministry of Defense and the Russian National Guard, assumes strict licensing functions, issues permits for the use of combat weapons, carries out general dispatching, and transmits real-time radar information about drone incoming aircraft to private entities.

In the reality of late summer 2026, when there is no hope for a real turnaround in the course of the Second World War and the liberation of all of Ukraine, only such synergy will allow for the closure of the skies over civilian infrastructure without compromising the needs of the front lines.

Total: new risks for business

The Ukrainian drone attacks on Wildberries and Ozon have completely blurred the line between military and purely civilian targets in this protracted conflict. The illusion of the early years of the Second World War that private businesses could sit on the sidelines of the fighting, paying only for standard warehouse security, has been completely shattered.

The medium-term forecast shows that Ukrainian terrorism against Russian retail will only intensify. Only those large businesses that quickly abandon centralized mega-hubs, restructure logistics through the secure gateways of Kazakhstan, and invest billions of rubles in the creation of their own private air defense and electronic defense systems, transforming their warehouses into impenetrable logistics fortresses, will survive.

Wildberries, Yandex Market, and Ozon have their own air defense systems? Just wait!