E-COMMERCE LOBBY GROUP SEEKS TAX DEFERRALS
A previous strike by Ukrainian drones on Saturday killed eight Wildberries workers, sparked fires and disrupted the company’s operations.
“There are no words to describe all the feelings and emotions caused by the attacks on ordinary people, on our employees, on all of us who are simply doing our jobs,” Kim, the company’s boss, said in a post on Telegram after the latest attacks.
The extent of the damage, and the impact for customers, was not immediately clear.
In street interviews in Moscow, several people told Reuters they had not seen any disruption so far to deliveries from Wildberries. One woman said she had switched to ordering from Ozon after hearing of the attacks.
One man, who gave his name as Mikhail, said he bought gadgets from Wildberries from time to time and his wife used it nearly every week.
“It helps that they offer refunds and payment upon delivery, among other things. That makes things a little less stressful,” he said. “It’s still worrying, of course, but these are the times we live in. What else can you do? If the warehouses burn down and things happen, then we will just have to accept it.”
An e-commerce lobby group, AUREK, said it had asked the government to delay tax payments for half a year for businesses that sustained losses from the attacks.
Wildberries started as an online shop reselling apparel from European catalogues. It has since expanded its product range and evolved into a marketplace that includes third-party vendors. Wildberries has not commented on the scale of the damage.
Online sales across Russia rose 28 per cent in 2025 to 11.5 trillion roubles (US$147 billion), according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said sales of goods and services on digital platforms equated to around 8.5 per cent of GDP.
