Iryna Nesterova17:43, 18.07.26

Auslander stressed that the only way to avoid further similar losses for Russia is to end the war.

The strike on the logistics center of the Russian marketplace Wildberries could have far broader consequences for Russia than simply destroying goods, Israeli journalist Sergei Auslender said, commenting on the reaction to the attack by Russian pro-war Telegram channels .

According to him, supporters of the war openly complain that after the attack there will be problems with purchasing drones and fiber optics through the marketplace.

“They are all like, ‘Where are we going to buy drones and fiber optics now?’ In general, supplying the active army through the marketplace is the pinnacle of military planning, but even that is not the most important thing here,” the post says.

According to the journalist, the main effect of the attack is not in the military aspect, but in the economic consequences. According to him, goods worth about $ 1 billion could have burned in the warehouses, although there is no official confirmation of this estimate. According to Auslander, the consequences could spread to various sectors of the economy. This includes possible layoffs for warehouse workers, logistics companies and delivery services, as well as losses for a large number of entrepreneurs whose goods were stored at the affected facilities.Read also:

“A million different businesses have lost their goods, and the big question is whether anyone will compensate them. The warehouses themselves are not just hangars, they are highly automated systems that are also very expensive and building them from scratch will cost a lot of money,” he writes. 

In addition, as Auslander writes, it became known that Wildberries has the right not to compensate sellers for the loss of goods damaged as a result of drone attacks. According to him, on July 7, the company updated the terms of the contract with sellers, defining shelling, explosions and the fall of UAVs as force majeure circumstances that exempt the marketplace from liability for damages.

The journalist emphasized that the only way to avoid further similar losses for Russia is to end the war.

“But since we urgently need to take Sloviansk, and since it is not completely clear about Kostyantynivka, the war will continue. With all the consequences that we are observing. However, everything is fine with the Russians: 774 Ukrainian drones were shot down in a day, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Debris, cotton, smoke, oxidation…” – he ironically says.

Hits on Wildberries

As UNIAN previously reported, on the night of July 18, drones bombed the Wildberries logistics center near Moscow in Elektrostal. It is one of the largest facilities in the company’s network – a Russian marketplace and online retailer. In addition, a Wildberries center was attacked in the city of Kotovsk, Tambov region. According to local authorities, 7 employees were killed, 24 people were injured and hospitalized.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the strike on logistics centers in Russia, noting that they are located at a distance of more than 500 and about 700 kilometers from the front line. He detailed that the affected facilities were used by the Russians to ensure the supply of sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment.

(c)UNIAN 2026