‘All we could do was watch our merchandise burn’: Russian small business owners respond to losing their stock when Ukrainian drones hit two Wildberries warehouses

On the night of July 18, Ukrainian drones struck two Wildberries warehouses — one outside Moscow and one in the Tambov region.

At least eight people were killed and more than 80 injured.

One strike hit the company’s major logistics center in Elektrostal, which sent a smoke plume drifting more than 200 kilometers (almost 125 miles) and damaged up to 15 percent of the company’s total warehouse space.

Firefighters still hadn’t fully extinguished the blaze a full day later.

The fire destroyed merchandise belonging to thousands of sellers along with the facilities themselves.

Some sellers estimate their losses in the millions of rubles and are scrambling to find the money to keep their businesses afloat.

Bereg spoke with four entrepreneurs whose goods were stored at the Elektrostal warehouse.

They discussed the first hours after the fire, the scale of their losses, and their efforts to save their businesses.

Meduza is publishing this piece in full. ...