How Wildberries Became One of the Main Beneficiaries of Russia's War Against Ukraine
The Russian marketplace Wildberries has significantly expanded its operations since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Against the backdrop of Western companies exiting the Russian market, the growth of parallel imports, and increased government spending, the company’s business has grown nearly fivefold.
According to the latest data, Wildberries’ annual revenue exceeds 4.1 trillion rubles, which accounts for more than 2% of Russia’s GDP. In fact, approximately one in every 50 rubles in the Russian economy passes through the platform.
The company owns a warehouse infrastructure with a total area of about 3 million square meters and a network of over 45,000 pickup points. Every day, more than 20 million orders are processed through the marketplace, equivalent to more than 7 billion items per year. The service’s active monthly audience exceeds 70 million users, and the company’s net profit is over 100 billion rubles.
The business’s rapid growth began after 2022. While Wildberries’ revenue was 844 billion rubles in 2021, it rose to 1.67 trillion rubles by 2022 and exceeded 4 trillion rubles in 2024–2025.
A large employment ecosystem has also formed around the company. About 150,000–200,000 people work in warehouses and logistics, and more than 150,000 work at pickup points. In addition, more than 1 million sellers are registered on the platform, providing jobs for several million more people. In total, Wildberries’ operations are directly or indirectly linked to more than 3 million people in Russia.
Due to its scale and role in the Russian economy, Wildberries’ logistics infrastructure is considered one of the key elements of the Russian Federation’s domestic supply chains. Any disruptions in the operation of large warehouse complexes could affect logistics, domestic trade, and the operations of Russia’s largest marketplace, which, since 2022, has become one of the war’s biggest beneficiaries. The destruction of Wildberries’ warehouses would paralyze the Russian economy.
Losses incurred by Russian sellers as a result of the July 22 drone attacks on Wildberries warehouses in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk could amount to approximately 100–120 billion rubles (1.27–1.53 billion U.S. dollars), assuming they were fully stocked and most of the goods were destroyed.
On the night of July 18, Ukrainian UAVs attacked the Russian Wildberries logistics center in Elektrostal, near Moscow, and in the Tomsk region.
