Airstrikes on Businesses in Russia and Ukraine: “Shelter” Investigated Who Is Causing More Damage to Whom

Billions in Losses

Ukrainian businesses are currently tallying their losses, but it’s already clear that the amounts involved are enormous. According to Iryna Chechotkina, co-founder of the Rozetka marketplace, the cost of the company’s destroyed sorting center near Kyiv amounted to $70 million (over 3 billion hryvnias, – “Shelter”). In addition, goods stored there worth “billions of hryvnias” were destroyed.

Epicenter reported that the assessment of the consequences of the August 5 attack is still ongoing. They noted that, starting in February 2022, 10 of the company’s shopping centers in Mariupol, Chernihiv, Bucha, Nikopol, Kharkiv, Kam’yanske, Kherson (two shopping centers), Sumy, and Kryvyi Rih, and that another retail facility in Melitopol had been occupied.

"In addition to the shopping centers, the ceramic tile production facility was destroyed. The logistics complex on Viskozna Street in Kyiv was completely destroyed. For the second time this year, the logistics center in the town of Kalynivka was damaged. Another 13 of the company’s retail facilities sustained damage at the start of the full-scale invasion,” the company told “Shelter.”

According to estimates by independent experts, as of spring 2025, Epicenter’s losses resulting from the full-scale war amounted to over $1 billion.

“At the same time, it should be noted that losses continued to mount throughout 2025–2026 and increased significantly,” the company added.

"Epicenter" also reported that due to the virtual destruction of its ceramics plant, the company plans to relocate the relevant production facilities abroad.

Retail and logistics networks whose facilities have suffered destruction and damage are trying to restructure their operations so that their problems do not affect consumers.

"We are already working on redistributing inventory and restructuring our logistics processes. We will do everything in our power to ensure the smooth operation of shopping centers and to ensure that shoppers do not feel the effects of this attack,” Epicenter representatives told Shelter.

The company does not expect a significant shortage of goods, but does not rule out a temporary absence of certain items on the shelves.

A reduction in the product assortment at retail locations is indeed being observed, and this is happening across many retail chains.

Additionally, in the first few days following the August 5 attack, there were delays in receiving mail.

“Nova Poshta” reassures customers that it is adapting its logistics to operate under wartime conditions in order to “better protect customers’ shipments and maintain stable delivery.”

“The company is transitioning to a decentralized sorting model and implementing backup systems for processing shipments,” Nova Poshta reported on its Telegram channel. “For the safety of our employees, customers, and logistics processes, we will not comment on or disclose details of the reorganization, the specifics of backup routes, or the locations of our facilities.”

Retaliation for Retaliation

Russia claims that the attacks on Ukraine’s logistics infrastructure are “retaliatory strikes” for the destruction of warehouses belonging to the Russian marketplace Wildberries.

But there’s one “but”—the fact is that shelling of business facilities in Ukraine has been occurring with some regularity ever since the invasion began, whereas the Ukrainian Defense Forces only began targeting Wildberries’ logistics hubs this year. So, it’s still up for debate who is retaliating against whom.

However, of course, no one is going to argue, because Russia doesn’t listen to words and understands only force.

And with their shelling of Wildberries facilities, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have certainly demonstrated just what kind of force they possess.

Judge for yourselves: as of early August, nearly all of the marketplace’s logistics centers had been attacked, including the destruction of the largest one in Elektrostal, near Moscow.

Ukraine makes no secret of the fact that these precision strikes on Wildberries’ warehouses are part of an overall plan to destroy the Russian economy (which, in turn, is part of an even more ambitious plan to force Russia to make peace).

“If you destroy this business, it leads to massive tax evasion. Plus, there are direct blows to a huge number of people (to their interests, not to them personally—"Shelter") who are, so to speak, ‘apolitical,’ who are simply making money and don’t see anything—they immediately lose everything. There’s also military logistics. And on top of that—a huge number of banks that profit from this,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, on DW.

He also pointed out that, according to one version—which, however, has not been officially confirmed, the actual beneficiaries of Wildberries, aside from Senator and billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, include Anton Vaino, head of the Russian President’s Administration, and his first deputy, Alexei Gromov—which certainly adds a twist to the whole situation. 

Worsening Economic Problems

Ukraine continues to strike Wildberries’ warehouses, causing colossal losses to the company.

The Bell, a publication designated as a “foreign agent” in Russia, reports that due to the exodus of sellers who have lost their merchandise and fear further attacks, the marketplace’s revenue has already fallen by at least a quarter.

As of the end of 2025, the company’s debt stood at 1.3 trillion Russian rubles—$15.84 billion—and, according to forecasts, it will now have to be increased by at least double—that is, to 2.6 trillion rubles (about $32 billion). For reference, the Russian Federation’s 2026 budget projects a deficit of 3.78 trillion rubles, though in reality, it has already reached 5.7 trillion rubles in the first half of the year.

The government is ready to bail out Wildberries, which is not surprising given the people who may be involved with the marketplace (though it would have bailed them out even without that, since the company falls into the “too big to fail” category).

But this will only increase spending, which will become a burden on the entire Russian economy.

How heavy will this burden be?

And what about the Ukrainian economy—what will be the consequences for it of hostile attacks on the logistics centers of large retail chains?

For whom—Ukraine or Russia—will the consequences of the shelling prove to be more significant?

Ukrainian economic expert Danylo Monin points out that “Epicenter” has announced it is moving its production abroad.

“I think other Ukrainian manufacturers will follow suit,” he wrote on Facebook.

According to him, this will lead to a significant increase in imports relative to exports (even though these are, in fact, artificial imports—“Shelter”).

However, investment banker Serhiy Fursa is confident that strikes on logistics hubs will not destroy the Ukrainian economy.

“Putin is capable of destroying a specific warehouse or a specific business. But he is not capable of undermining Ukraine’s macrofinancial stability,” he wrote on Facebook.

But he can undermine Russia’s macrofinancial stability. And not only can he, but that is exactly what he is doing.

According to Fursa, Russia has reached a point where it can no longer maintain “sound economic policy” and finance the war.

Of course, that isn’t stopping Putin. Not yet, anyway.

“But this brings us closer to an intensification and deepening—an accelerated deepening—of Russia’s economic problems,” the financier concluded.

Incomparable Things

The problems faced by Wildberries and Rozetka (or “Nova Poshta”) are not comparable.

“Wildberries is much larger in scale than ‘Nova Poshta’ and Rozetka. It’s a large-scale business with huge warehouses, and there aren’t many of them on the aggressor’s territory,” said Ilya Neshodovsky, a freelance expert with the “ANTS” Network for the Protection of National Interests, in a comment to “Shelter.” “Nova Poshta and Rozetka are extensive networks, and they do not have such massive warehouses nor are they concentrated in a single location like Wildberries.”

Of course, for Ukrainian companies whose warehouses have been damaged or destroyed as a result of enemy attacks, this represents serious losses, but they cannot be compared to the losses suffered by the Russian marketplace.

As a reminder, Rozetka estimated the value of its destroyed logistics center in the Kyiv region at $70 million, while Wildberries’ direct losses from Ukrainian attacks alone could range from 100 to 200 billion Russian rubles ($1.2–2.4 billion).

There is another difference: due to high interest rates, Ukrainian businesses are generally not heavily indebted, which is not the case in Russia.

“This applies not only to loans for running a business. Often, it also involves so-called ‘trade credits’—that is, goods are paid for when the money becomes available. This (the destruction of Wildberries’ warehouses and the goods inside them) will lead to a significant increase in accounts receivable and accounts payable, defaults on loan obligations, and, as a result, bankruptcy and a decline in bank deposits, – says Ilya Neshodovskiy. – “We’ll see this here too, but on a much smaller scale.”

And finally, we must realize that in Russia, marketplaces (and first and foremost Wildberries) are primarily warehouses for goods, whereas in Ukraine, for example, Rozetka most often functions solely as a trading platform. This, in particular, is why the losses are so incomparable.

No Funds for the War

As for the impact of the situation surrounding Wildberries on the entire Russian economy, yes, there will be one.

In particular, there will be an impact on the banking system, since entrepreneurs who have lost their goods will, on the one hand, be unable to repay their loans to banks, and on the other hand, will withdraw funds from their bank accounts to pay off debts and restock their inventory.

“Russian banks are already in a difficult situation. Even before these blows, they were facing a liquidity crisis, and now this effect will intensify,” explains Ilya Neshodovsky.

The next issue is tax payments and budget revenue.

“As a result of their losses, they will be unable to pay taxes, and consequently, the budget will suffer,” the expert notes.

And then a domino effect is to be expected: to save the banks and the budget, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation will have to print money; this money supply will trigger inflation, which, in turn, will lead to people withdrawing money from banks even more aggressively.

Therefore, the decision by Ukraine’s military and political leadership to strike Wildberries facilities (and, to a lesser extent, other marketplaces, such as Ozon, which have a much lower concentration of goods in their warehouses) is absolutely correct.

Ukraine’s defense forces are also continuing to attack Russian oil refineries and are expected to begin striking energy facilities as winter approaches.

Will the plan to force Russia to make peace work in this scenario?

However, even in this situation, Russia will be able to continue its missile attacks against the civilian population of Ukraine, the expert warns.