Wildberries Bans Smartphones at Warehouses After Drone Attacks
AI Analysis
Ukrainian drone strikes have systematically targeted Wildberries warehouses across Russia, destroying approximately 38% of the retailer's major logistics capacity and causing up to $1.2 billion in losses. In response, Wildberries banned smartphones at its facilities to prevent employees from filming drone activity and air defense positions, allowing only camera-free button phones.
Key Takeaways
- Wildberries prohibited smartphones at warehouses after employees filmed drone attacks and air raid alerts, citing security risks to Russian air defense positions.
- Ukrainian drone strikes have damaged or destroyed 10 of Wildberries' 26 largest warehouses, including facilities near Moscow and St. Petersburg.
- Approximately 1 million square meters of warehouse space (38% of major logistics capacity) has been affected, triggering 10-30% consumer price hikes.
- The strikes are part of a broader Ukrainian campaign targeting infrastructure supporting the Russian war effort, including refineries and naval vessels.
- Wildberries' partnership with state-controlled bank VTB was cited by Kyiv as justification for targeting the company.
Why It Matters
This demonstrates the effectiveness of sustained drone campaigns against economic infrastructure, forcing operational security changes in civilian logistics. The targeting of e-commerce hubs shows how drone warfare can disrupt supply chains and impose economic costs, while the smartphone ban highlights counter-intelligence measures to protect air defense assets.
Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries has banned employees from bringing smartphones into its warehouse facilities after workers reportedly recorded Ukrainian drone attacks and air raid alerts, according to the Russian Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti.
The outlet posted on Monday that Wildberries had sent employees a notice on July 31 warning that photographing or filming air raid alerts and drone activity at warehouse sites could endanger security by revealing the locations of Russian air defense (PVO) positions.
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“Photo and video recording during air raid alerts threatens security, may reveal the positions of air defense forces, violates Russian legislation, and may result in administrative or, in some cases, criminal liability,” the notice reportedly said.
Wildberries said it had recorded multiple cases of employees filming drones and other incidents at warehouse facilities with their smartphones.
To “eliminate such risks,” the company said that beginning Monday, employees would only be allowed to bring button mobile phones without cameras into warehouses.
According to the notice, the devices will allow workers to stay in contact with relatives while complying with the company’s new security requirements.
The reported restrictions come after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries logistics facilities. Last week, Ukrainian drones struck Wildberries warehouses in Russia’s Penza region and the republic of Udmurtia, causing fires and disrupting logistics operations.
Kyiv has previously said it targeted the company because of its alleged role in supporting the Russian military and its partnership with state-controlled bank VTB.
Ukrainian drones also struck a 178,600-square-meter (1,922,000-square-foot) Wildberries hub early on Sunday, continuing a sustained campaign that has destroyed approximately 38% of the Russian e-commerce giant’s major warehouse capacity over the past two weeks, causing significant financial losses and consumer price hikes.
Wildberries management confirmed the attack on the warehouse, stating there were no casualties.
Independent monitoring channels reported that the logistics center is located approximately 450 meters (1,476 feet) from a large installation displaying a Russian flag and the pro-war “Z” symbol.
As of July 31, at least 18 strikes have targeted the company’s supply chain infrastructure, damaging or destroying approximately 1 million square meters (10,763,000 square feet) of warehouse space – roughly 38% of its major logistics capacity.
The systematic destruction of these hubs, which has caused estimated losses of up to $1.2 billion for the retailer, recently triggered a 10%-30% surge in consumer prices on the platform as the company canceled promotional discounts to absorb the financial impact.
Ten of the company’s 26 largest warehouses have sustained damage, including facilities in the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions that were completely destroyed by fire.
The Sunday strikes follow a massive wave of coordinated deep strikes on Saturday, which targeted three Bashneft refineries in Bashkortostan and multiple radar stations in the Krasnodar region.
Concurrently, a naval drone operation in the Black Sea sank the Rosatom-affiliated FESCO container ship Yanina.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the sinking of the sanctioned vessel, which had a capacity of over 100,000 tons, noting that the strikes targeted specific sites that support the Russian war effort.
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