Analysts identify challenges russian government may face after Defense Forces' strikes on Wildberries - ISW report

An intensification of Ukraine’s strikes on Wildberries facilities in russia could place an additional strain on russia’s already overburdened air defense systems and is likely to cause increasing inconvenience to russians who use this platform.

This is stated in a report by analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The analysts reported that on July 24, a russian source reported that russia had urgently deployed additional stationary Pantsir air defense positions throughout the moscow oblast following strikes on Wildberries facilities in that region on July 17–19.

The ISW believes that Ukraine’s increasing activity in striking deep inside russian territory, strikes on military logistics facilities and medium-range targets, as well as attempts to isolate the occupied Crimea, are already placing additional demands on russia in terms of human and material resources — in addition to its existing needs for manpower and front-line defense.

According to analysts, it will not be easy for russia to include Wildberries warehouses and similar facilities in the ever-growing list of rear-area targets it must defend.

Operational disruptions are likely to continue causing inconvenience to residents of major cities, such as moscow and St. Petersburg, which the kremlin is striving to shield from the consequences of the war.

Strikes on Wildberries facilities could also put financial pressure on president vladimir putin’s inner circle. According to available data, Anton Vaino, head of the Presidential Administration, and Alexei Gromov, first deputy head of the Administration, either support Wildberries or are co-owners of the company.

ISW noted that, according to available data, in March 2026, putin appealed to the russian elite to financially support his military efforts, breaking a promise made to the oligarchs in July 2000 that he would support the privatization of Soviet assets on the condition that the oligarchs not interfere in russian politics and swear allegiance to putin.

It is reported that since then, the russian elite have been trying to move funds abroad to protect their assets from nationalization in russia.

Reporters from the Ukrainian News agency provided detailed coverage of the Defense Forces’ strikes on Wildberries facilities.

On the night of July 24, the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck several warehouses belonging to the russian logistics company Wildberries.

On July 23, Telegram channels reported an attack in the Novaya Usman area, where the Wildberries logistics center is located. According to the Agency’s OSINT analysis, a nighttime video shows a fire in Novaya Usman—two kilometers from the Wildberries store. An Ozon warehouse is located two kilometers away in the opposite direction.

On the night of July 22, Ukrainian drones struck two large Wildberries logistics centers in southern russia. Specifically, a facility in Krasnodar with an area of about 100,000 square meters was targeted, as well as one in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai, with an area of about 90,000 square meters.

On July 20, drones attacked the moscow oblast. At that time, a fire engulfed another Wildberries warehouse in Podolsk, and the Yuzhnye Vorota industrial park in Domodedovo was also hit.

On July 18, drones attacked Wildberries warehouses in Elektrostal in the moscow oblast and in Kotovsk in the Tambov oblast.