Why Is Ukraine Targeting Ozon? Russia’s Second-Largest Online Retailer Hit by Drone Strikes

Ukraine has launched a widening drone campaign against Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer, striking logistics hubs across the country for four consecutive nights and marking a new front in Kyiv’s effort to disrupt networks it says sustain Moscow’s war effort.

Ukrainian FP-1 drones struck an Ozon warehouse in Chapayevsk, in Russia’s Samara Oblast, overnight on Aug. 22, according to Ukrainian drone manufacturer Fire Point. The attack expanded Ukraine’s warehouse campaign from Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace, to its second-largest rival. Ukraine’s defense ministry framed the shift bluntly: “After Ukrainian units hit the 15 largest logistics hubs of Wildberries, it is now Ozon’s turn.”

By Monday, the campaign had grown well beyond a single facility. Ukrainian drones struck at least three more Ozon logistics centers overnight Aug. 23-24, the third consecutive night of strikes on the retailer, bringing the total number of Ozon facilities targeted since Saturday to six.

Why Ukraine Says It’s Targeting Ozon

Kyiv has cast the strikes as part of a broader economic campaign rather than an attack on civilian commerce. Ukrainian officials allege that the retailers’ warehouses move military-linked goods, including drone components, though the Kremlin has denied that the companies supply Russian forces. One report noted that Ozon’s platform also carries products with potential dual-use or military applications, including drones and components, communications equipment, thermal-imaging devices and tactical gear, some of which have reportedly been purchased for Russian troops. The Chapayevsk complex targeted first is also located near facilities linked to Russia’s defense industry, including a plant that manufactures industrial explosives.

Independent verification of those military-supply claims remains limited. Reporting on the strikes has noted that available evidence does not independently establish the extent of Ozon’s or Wildberries’ involvement in Russian military supply chains, even as Ukraine has pointed to the facilities’ proximity to defense-linked sites as justification.

Scale of the Damage

The first targeted facility, opened in late 2022, covers roughly 135,000 square meters and is one of Ozon’s newer major logistics hubs; Fire Point said it is one of Ozon’s largest warehouses in the Volga region, processing more than 215,000 orders for delivery each day. The Aug. 22 strike injured people and forced more than 500 Ozon employees to evacuate, the first confirmed Ukrainian attack to damage and set fire to an Ozon facility.

The strikes continued into the following days. A second strike hit an Ozon logistics center in Russia’s Orenburg region on Aug. 23, with the company evacuating more than 300 people and halting operations. By Aug. 24, three additional Ozon hubs were hit in the Krasnodar, Dagestan and Stavropol regions, with Russian independent outlet Astra reporting that Ozon’s shares fell 12% following the strikes. Facilities in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk were also evacuated over the threat of drone attacks, though they escaped damage.

Civilian Toll Alongside the Warehouse Strikes

The overnight strike campaigns have coincided with broader waves of Ukrainian drone attacks that Russian officials say caused civilian casualties. Russian officials reported that Ukrainian drones killed at least six people overnight in the initial wave of strikes that hit Ozon and an industrial facility in the Samara region. In a later wave, drone debris struck a private childcare center in Krasnodar, killing two children and injuring seven more children along with two adults, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said. Ukraine has not commented on the childcare center incident specifically.

Part of a Broader Economic Campaign

The Ozon strikes follow a monthslong pattern of attacks on Wildberries. Over the past two months, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck Wildberries sites, a retailer Kyiv has treated as part of Russia’s war-making capacity rather than neutral civilian infrastructure, with Ukraine’s General Staff confirming it has struck Wildberries warehouses more than 20 times since June 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the expanding campaign, while Moscow has separately continued its own long-range strikes on Ukrainian targets.