The suicide drone onslaught shattering Putin’s ‘Amazon’ empire as Ukraine plots next death blow to paralyse war machine

UKRAINE’S daring and destructive drone attacks shattering Vladimir Putin’s Amazon-style empire have thrown the Kremlin’s economy into freefall. A dozen Wildberries warehouses have been blitzed in the past month with Kyiv now plotting for their next death blow against Moscow to further paralyse Putin’s faltering war machine. Wildberries was first targeted on July 18, as Ukraine unleashed a sustained attack around Moscow across 48 hours Credit: East2West Devastating Ukrainian strikes tear through two giant ‘Russian Amazon’ logistics hubs in Elektrostal near Moscow Credit: East2West Longtime Kremlin critic and Brit banker Bill Browder told The Sun: “These attacks on the Wildberries warehouses are a combination of economic, military and psychological war on the Russians.” Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace, was first targeted on July 18, as Ukraine unleashed a sustained attack around Moscow across 48 hours. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Several major sites were struck with warehouses left smoking across the weary capital. Strikes then hit further hubs in St Petersburg, Crimea and multiple other cities. Locals watched on as a warehouse in Elektrostal burnt to the ground back in July Credit: East2West Putin sees Wildberries as a vital economic powerhouse in Russia which helps prop up the Kremlin with a steady cash flow Credit: EPA At least 12 Wildberries hubs have been sent up in flames since late July – plunging one of Russia‘s most crucial businesses into disarray. Ex-British intelligence officer Philip Ingram told The Sun: “Ukrainians seem to be hitting two or three warehouses every couple of days and burning them down and destroying them.” One of the most important sites hit so far by Ukrainian suicide drones is a warehouse in the Urals Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Philip added. He said: “Yekaterinburg sits 2,000km from the Ukrainian border but we’ve seen drones be able to get through Russian air defence capabilities the whole way and hit a site there. Most read in The Sun “If we look at the air defences out there, the military planning and intelligence that’s needed to do that is phenomenal. “Russia can’t protect its capital city. It can’t protect its second city and it can’t stop Ukrainian drones hitting 2,000km away on the other side of the Urals. “So what can Russia protect? Its emboldening the Ukrainians. It’s worrying the Russians and it’s causing Vladimir Putin a massive headache.” There are a total of 40 sprawling Wildberries warehouses with another 200 smaller facilities spread out across Russia. Strikes hit critical hubs in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk, both in Western Russia, just days after the initial attack on Moscow’s warehouses Credit: East2West Russians painted a desperate message saying ‘this is not Wildberries, fly past,’ across a warehouse Credit: @clashreport / X Thousands of national retailers regularly use Wildberries to buy and store their goods as well as using the brand’s delivery service. Even Russian troops rely on the supplier for helmets and armour before they head to the bloody battlefield. In 2025, Wildberries’ turnover was recorded at £58.5bn, almost three per cent of Russia’s gross domestic product and nearly half of its online retail figures. This makes it a vital economic powerhouse in Russia which helps prop up the Kremlin with a steady cash flow. “This is where Ukraine is playing a longer term game,” Philip warned. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and his war chiefs have been fighting on the back foot since Putin’s launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia has a vastly superior number of troops and powerful weapons in their arsenal compared to Ukraine even with US and Nato‘s support. This has pushed Kyiv to carry out more technical assaults away from the frontline including the attacks on Wildberries. How Ukraine’s cunning tactic to blitz ‘Russia’s Amazon’ could deal fatal blow to Putin’s regime By Harvey Geh, Foreign News Reporter AFTER weeks of blitzing Vladimir Putin’s oil depots with state-of-the-art drones, Ukraine has now shifted its crosshairs to Russia’s Amazon. In another bid to bring the tyrant to the negotiating table, Kyiv is putting its foot on Moscow’s neck with a series of strikes crippling the regime’s biggest e-commerce platform. The despot could be staring down the barrel of a mutiny by the time key elections come round in September if Ukraine keeps its foot on the gas and Moscow continues to struggle against aerial assaults, experts say. Russia expert Mark Galeotti told The Sun: “The Ukrainians have been extraordinarily and unexpectedly successful, and this is slowly grinding away… at support for the regime bit by bit.” And John Foreman CBE, former UK Defence Attaché to Russia, said: “The strategy… is to inflict pain inside Russia, inside the occupied territories, inside Crimea, to bring home the cost of war back to Russians.” Russia analyst Natia Seskuria told us: “It’s a very smart strategy from the Ukrainian side… it will have a significant impact on Russian households.” She added: “This is something new and something that we haven’t seen before, but I think the message is still the same in terms of making the war extremely costly for Russia.” READ MORE HERE Philip continued: “Kyiv is recognising that on the battlefield all it can do is hold the Russians back because they’re much stronger militarily. “So instead it’s attacking at an operational level. Attacking Russia’s very core ability to continue to support the operations and the people that will be going on the front line.” Philip said Ukraine’s plan is clear, to “undermine Vladimir Putin from a political perspective, and undermine Russia from an economic perspective internally.” Philip continued: “Ukraine’s strategy is evolving, the hits on Wildberries and the general oil and gas infrastructure are causing a financial burden to Moscow. “It is bringing the war home to the average Russian. “The civilian population is now fearing the government can’t protect them anymore. “They can’t protect their businesses due to the Wildberries attacks and the cost of living is going through the roof.” Bill agreed, saying “bringing the war home” to the Russians is “probably the most important thing that they’re doing”. The move will create pressure on Putin and the government by hampering their ability to justify the war. “The less justification they have, the less sacrifice the average Russian is going to want to make and perhaps at some point the wave of indignation in Russia becomes unbearable for Putin”, Bill said. Bill believes there are two logical next steps for the Ukrainians after seeing the huge success they’ve had with striking Wildberries. They could attack the next largest goods supplier in the country, known as Ozone, as many people have just started to buy and sell through their stores now instead. In a similar vein, Ukraine’s blistering attacks on oil and gas refineries could show where Kyiv might hit next. Bill said: “Wherever the most economic activity is in Russia should be the target. “And so if they’re targeting oil refineries and crippling the cash exports they might soon move onto targeting metals exports. “That’s another big source of income for the Russian economy. “Anywhere that the Ukrainians can find where there’s economic flows going to the Russian economy into the government should be fair game.” Comment now