Russia's online retailer Wildberries says warehouse on fire after Ukrainian drone attack

Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries said on Monday that a Ukrainian drone attack on one of ‌its warehouses ⁠in the Vladimir region had caused ‌a fire to break out and that ⁠staff had been evacuated.

The company, whose warehouses have been systematically targeted by Ukraine ‌in recent weeks, said firefighters were working at the scene. It ‌said logistics operations had been rerouted to other facilities to ensure deliveries and shipments continued as usual.

Alexander Avdeyev, the regional governor, said a young man had received a non life-threatening head wound in the attack and was being taken to hospital. A woman who lived nearby had also suffered what ⁠he described as minor injuries to one ⁠of her legs.

Since mid-July, Ukraine has struck around 20 sites belonging to Wildberries across various parts of Russia and in annexed Crimea.

The initial attacks on the night of July 17-18 left eight people dead and nearly 90 wounded at sites in the Moscow and Tambov regions.

Since then, Ukrainian drone strikes have targeted sites near Saint Petersburg, in Simferopol in Crimea, in Krasnodar and Volgograd, and in Samara.

The attacks on its warehouses are part of a campaign of long-range Ukrainian strikes targeting civilian infrastructure in Russia, which has been waging a large-scale offensive in Ukraine since February 2022.

Kyiv says the aim is to force the Kremlin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP)