Ukrainian drones are regularly striking warehouses belonging to Wildberries – Russia’s largest online marketplace, often described as its answer to Amazon.

This is the latest front in a campaign that has made the economic costs of the war harder for ordinary Russians to ignore. Earlier this summer, strikes on oil refineries and fuel infrastructure contributed to shortages, rising prices and queues at petrol stations.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has grown used to managing hardship and western sanctions. But as I have previously argued, Russia is increasingly sustaining the war by passing its costs on to households and businesses. The attacks on Wildberries show how directly those costs may now be felt.

Wildberries began in 2004 as an online clothing business run from a Moscow apartment by Tatyana Kim and her then husband, Vladislav Bakalchuk.

A major breakthrough came in 2008, when it introduced a flat delivery charge across Russia. It later added local pickup points with fitting rooms and free returns, reducing the cost and perceived risk of buying clothes online, and attracting customers beyond the largest cities.

By 2016, Wildberries had become Russia’s largest online retailer. Two years later, it was operating as a marketplace, allowing independent producers and retailers to list goods while the company handled warehousing, payments and delivery.

Wildberries says it now........

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