Sellers Lose Millions After Wildberries Warehouse Fires

On the night of 18 July, drones attacked two Wildberries warehouse complexes — in Kotovsk, Tambov Oblast, and in Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast. Seven night-shift employees were killed in the strike on the Kotovsk warehouse, and another 25 people were wounded. Tambov Oblast Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said the drones were equipped with fragmentation elements in the form of metal balls.

In Elektrostal, one of the injured later died in hospital, and 37 people were wounded. Fires also broke out at an oil depot in Noginsk, Moscow Oblast, and in a kindergarten building in Elektrostal, but no children or staff at the kindergarten were hurt. By 19 July, 62 people remained in hospitals after the attacks, and eight were in serious condition.

Wildberries promised to pay 2 million rubles (about $25,000 at current rates) to the families of each of the dead and 1 million rubles (about $12,500 at current rates) to seriously injured employees. Company head Tatyana Kim said sellers would not be left without support after losing their goods. On 21 July, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov denied rumors that the warehouses had been used for supplies to the Russian armed forces.

The cost of rebuilding the burned warehouses is estimated differently. Maxim Leshchev, CEO of the Meta Group, put the figure at no less than 100,000 rubles per square meter (about $1,250 at current rates). Other sources cite damage of 21.5 billion rubles (about $268.75 million at current rates) based on an estimate of 60,000 rubles per square meter (about $750 at current rates). According to Vedomosti, including equipment and goods in stock, total damage could reach 50 billion rubles (about $625 million at current rates), and restoring infrastructure would take from one to two years.

Sellers are actively sharing their losses on social media. «While we were sleeping, our goods were burning in warehouses,» entrepreneurs write. One clothing brand owner said: «Only yesterday I was an entrepreneur, and today I am bankrupt. My entire clothing collection burned down; my goods arrived at the warehouse on 8 July.» Her goods had already been completely destroyed by a fire at the Shushary warehouse, St. Petersburg, in 2024, and it had taken her two years to recover. Now she has lost everything again.

The clothing brand 2211gate published a video with the title «This night our business burned to the ground.» «We spent two years building the brand. We selected fabrics and sewed samples. Our main warehouse was in Elektrostal. Today nothing is left of it... That’s how you can lose everything in 10 minutes.»

Some sellers are already changing their strategy. The owner of a skincare brand who lost more than 9,000 units of goods plans to develop her own website rather than rely on marketplaces. Another entrepreneur, whose losses amounted to 11 million rubles (about $137,500 at current rates), said she would raise prices by 10–15% to compensate.

Seller Karina said her goods burned at the Elektrostal warehouse — she had been selling off her remaining stock in order to leave the business. «Since last autumn I decided to stop selling on marketplaces, because when your turnover is 2–3 million rubles ($25,000–$37,500 at current rates), you don’t earn even 50,000 rubles (about $625 at current rates). I had leftover stock worth about 1 million rubles (about $12,500 at current rates) in the warehouse, and I am still paying off loans for it.»

Alisa, founder of a Siberian cosmetics brand, lost more than 500 units of goods worth 1.64 million rubles (about $20,500 at current rates). She has already sent the marketplace a pre-trial claim and asked for information about whether her goods survived. «The saddest thing is that I have already faced a similar situation when there was a fire at the Shushary warehouse. So now we are trying to sell at least what is left, at least to cover wages and rent. But so far it is only enough for taxes.»

Denis Vdovin, founder of the Deanda brand, calculated that goods worth 3.7 million rubles (about $46,300 at current rates) burned — more than 1,500 units. His business was stored at several warehouses, so he urged his team to remain calm and redistribute deliveries. After the fires at Shushary and at the Ozon warehouse in Istra, Moscow Oblast, sellers received full compensation, «as if we had sold the goods.» Denis hopes that this time, compensation will also be kept under state control.

Lawyers note that the marketplace is not obliged to compensate losses, because the contract specifies drone attacks as a force majeure event. The latest version of Wildberries’ terms and conditions took effect on 20 July. Clause 11.3.4.1 says the company is released from liability for failure to fulfill obligations caused by force majeure, including consequences of the use of drones. This clause appeared in the terms on 7 July.

Galina Gamburg, head of the property-relations practice at Amuleks.ru, explained: «Even if this provision were not in the terms, the norms of the Civil Code would still apply. So the widespread statements that Wildberries abused its right by changing the terms seven days before the incident are groundless.»

Despite this, Wildberries announced support measures for sellers: deferral of debt repayment for up to six months for WB Bank clients, preferential loans and factoring to replenish inventory, cancellation of fees for payments within Russia, preferential conditions for withdrawing revenue, a storage discount for 45 days, and a 100% discount on transit deliveries. Tatyana Kim said the marketplace still plans to pay compensation despite the new terms. All goods kept in Elektrostal will be reflected in sellers’ reports in the near future.

As for buyers who paid for burned orders, the seller must refund their money. The consumer can go to court, but the seller has the right to cite force majeure. Thus the burden falls primarily on sellers, who will be unable to recover their losses from the marketplace.