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Ukraine has begun systematically targeting the warehouses of Russia’s second-largest online marketplace, Ozon, after weeks of drone strikes against market leader Wildberries.
Ozon said on Monday that a logistics centre in Krasnodar was set ablaze by a drone after four of its warehouses in southern Russia had come under attack over the weekend, with fires breaking out at least two of the sites.
“A logistics centre in the suburbs of Krasnodar came under attack by a UAV . . . A major fire has broken out, and emergency services are on the scene. Operations at the warehouse have been suspended,” the company said.
Over the weekend, Ozon reported fires at its warehouse in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, while two other sites, in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk, were evacuated after drone attack warnings. The company said the facilities and goods at the latter sites remained intact.
The incidents followed strikes on Saturday on Ozon facilities in the central Russian region of Samara and in nearby Orenburg.
The attacks mark a new stage in Ukraine’s campaign against Russian ecommerce logistics, after weeks of drone strikes on facilities belonging to Wildberries, the market leader known as “Russia’s Amazon”.
“After Ukrainian forces hit Wildberries’ 15 largest logistics hubs, it is Ozon’s turn,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Saturday.
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said drones had hit 66 targets across Russia and Russian-controlled regions overnight into Monday. His statement on social media included a definition of “ozone” — an apparent reference to the strikes on Ozon warehouses.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday its air defences had shot down almost 1,000 Ukrainian drones over the previous 24 hours.
Russian officials said a children’s centre in the Krasnodar region had been hit by drone debris in the overnight attack, killing three children and injuring several others.
“Debris from the drones also fell on residential buildings and apartment complexes under construction. The drone crashes caused a fire in some warehouse facilities. All emergency services are currently on the scene, and rescue workers are extinguishing the fire,” Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev wrote on Telegram.
Asked about the attacks on Ozon on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that by focusing on Russia’s commercial infrastructure, Ukraine was failing to make any progress on the front line.
Citing President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said Ukraine had opened a Pandora’s box and was now “feeling the consequences in Kyiv every day, every night — and will continue to feel them”.
He said the government was “working with business representatives to consider and develop various support options in this difficult situation”.
Ozon shares fell almost 30 per cent on the Moscow Exchange on Monday, prompting the exchange to hold a discretionary auction, according to a statement on its website.
Russia’s finance ministry also published a proposal for financial assistance to Wildberries and sellers on its platform, including a 12-month deferral of payment deadlines on VAT, income tax and other taxes. “Support will be provided to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs whose losses exceed 5 per cent of their annual income,” the ministry said.
In Orenburg, however, regional officials said the local Ozon warehouse had resumed operations. “The marketplace team responded quickly, and the supply chains are returning to normal,” Anton Efimov, the region’s vice-governor for economic affairs, said on Telegram. “EVERYTHING IS WORKING!” he added.
In a video address published on Monday to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would not withdraw from the eastern Donbas region, a longstanding Russian demand.
“You wanted to take all our Ukraine, all our land; instead, you lost your oil refineries, your fleet, your profits, your entire generation that you sent into the meat grinder . . . For 27 years, the head of Russia has talked about greatness, but now Russians are standing in queues for petrol.”
