Ukrainian drones deliver devastating package to Russia’s Amazon
Kyiv targets Wildberries, Russia’s main marketplace openly selling drones. Issac, a former U.S. Marine and volunteer for Ukraine, thinks this is an ‘extraordinary strategic move.'
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KYIV, Ukraine – Coming from the well-funded and well-supplied American military, former Marine officer Issac Luna never thought that he would be shopping on Amazon for military equipment and drone parts. Or that civilian marketplaces would play huge roles in supplying militaries in the age of modern warfare.
“I went from being a major in the U.S. Marines to a basic soldier in the Ukrainian army with no pay,” Issac said.
Unlike the U.S., the Russian military is unofficially relying on civilian marketplaces to provide the necessary equipment for its soldiers. Because of that, a standalone economic sector emerged in Russia where private businesses have become de facto suppliers of military equipment, facilitated by Russia’s largest online marketplace, Wildberries.
Early on the night of July 31, Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries warehouse in Volgograd, almost 1,300 km from the Ukrainian border. It was the 11th successful attack on Wildberries warehouses by the Ukrainian military since the campaign began roughly two weeks ago.
Wildberries is a major international e-commerce platform founded in Russia that handles roughly 45 percent of the country’s online retail sales. It sells everything from clothing, cookware, footwear, and cosmetics to military and dual-use goods, and thus is often referred to as the “Russian Amazon” in the media.
Having already dealt a heavy blow to Russia’s oil refining industry, Ukraine is now concentrating on Wildberries, a key logistics artery, in a bid to deepen the economic damage and further strain Russia’s military capabilities. For Kyiv, it is a chance to force the Kremlin to the negotiating table after unsuccessful attempts to reach a ceasefire under Donald Trump’s mediation.
“The Ukrainian side justifies the strikes by stating that the warehouses were used to supply the Russian army and defense industry with dual-use goods and components necessary for the war,” said Viktor Kevliuk, a security analyst from the independent Kyiv-based think tank Center for Defense Strategies.
Before the strikes began, the marketplace featured a dedicated product tag labeling hundreds of thousands of items ‘For the SMO,’ short for the propaganda term the Kremlin uses for the war, meaning “Special Military Operation.” The tag was widely used by Russian servicemen to browse military-related items, like drones or body armor. After Wildberries warehouses started going up in flames, the tag was deleted, though the products were simply moved to other categories.
“It signaled they were a “patriotic” company that supports the invasion,” Isaac said.
The Counteroffensive has gone down the rabbit hole — the Wildberries website — and taken a close look at what Russian civilians and members of the military are buying on the so-called Russian Amazon.
The marketplace sports a large array of military goods like vests and helmets, but also items required to build drones, with military marketing still in place from the sellers. There is also an abundance of goods that highlight the massive scale of anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western propaganda peddled by the Russian state. Items like military uniforms for children and books with pseudohistoric narratives show how Russia uses all it can — from books to fashion — for its militaristic objectives.
Issac Luna, 45, joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003 as a basic infantryman. He rose to the rank of an officer before leaving the American military in 2017 to pursue business and investing. What he didn’t know was that in just five years he would be far from his comfortable home in Houston, Texas — fighting the Russians as a volunteer in Ukraine’s International Legion and struggling to equip himself and his comrades.
“I would say that my experience with the logistics was kind of the first punch in the face that I encountered with the reality of this war,” Issac said.
According to Issac, the logistics of the American military are set up in a way that a regular soldier would almost never need to purchase equipment on a civilian marketplace like Amazon. Everything is procured within the military itself, and goods like uniforms, Kevlar vests, and night vision are in abundance.
But in Ukraine, the situation was drastically different. The Ukrainian Armed Forces grew exponentially in a very short time in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion. And much like the Ukrainian volunteers, foreign fighters like Issac encountered a shortage of everything — from uniforms and boots to the more advanced stuff like night vision or signal jammers.
“There were not enough boots of the right size. The uniforms, everybody had different uniforms,” he said.
He relied on his own resources and help from volunteers to offset the shortage. A few needed items were procured through civilian marketplaces like Amazon, he said. But in Russia, soldiers turn to civilian marketplaces on a larger scale because the quality of official equipment provided is subpar.
“I noticed that in the early days of the war, the Russians were wearing body armor that was very outdated. And now, what I see them wearing, the footage is more, like, newer and more sophisticated. Most of it is from China,” Issac said.
Wildberries is used by millions of Russian customers, and it’s known as a platform where even small businesses can sell their goods. Approximately 4.5 million online purchases are made with Wildberries daily. Ukraine has already hit 15 percent of its warehouses, according to The Moscow Times.
The strikes have reached Moscow, St.Petersburg, Penza, Yekaterinburg and other cities, causing not only financial damage to Russian citizens, but also decreased morale among Russians.
“I think it is an extraordinary strategic move for Ukraine,” said Issac.
After 2023, Issac left the legion and created a non-profit organization called ‘Victory Team’ to help supply Ukrainians fighting for their survival. That’s when he started using civilian marketplaces like Amazon to procure the necessary equipment.
“Boots and uniforms and body armor. And flak jackets. They exist on Amazon, not for the U.S. military, but for hobbyists or people who are in the security industry, police, and private militias,” Issac said.
In 2023, when the warfare switched to drones, Issac had to search for complete drones as well as drone parts on Amazon.
“We were still relying on Mavic DJI drones [civilian drones that the military used for reconnaissance]. Most recently, even some of the components still come from Amazon, like some of the electronics for drones,” Issac said.
Mirroring the Ukrainians, the Russian military also started using drones on the frontline in 2023. But drones of various types and the spare parts needed for them were not something that the Russian military was supplying officially. In that situation, Russian soldiers turned to online retailers like Wildberries.
Within the Russian military, poor quality pushes soldiers to look for custom alternatives on the civilian market. And Wildberries, as the largest among those, became an unofficial part of the Russian military procurement system. Russian volunteers and soldiers use it to purchase sanctioned drone spare parts, walkie-talkies, electronics, body armor, etc.
Russian Wildberries customers are becoming increasingly outraged over damaged parcels or lost funds due to the warehouse strikes. In one particularly outrageous case, Russian media reported that a Russian gamer received a $1 water bottle instead of a $ 1,000 graphics card. Wildberries said that claim was fake, however, and The Counteroffensive could not independently verify it. Just before the attacks started, though, Wildberries took steps to avoid having to pay compensation, renewing an internal policy to state that the company is no longer liable for destroyed parcels in the event of Ukrainian drone attacks.
“No more packages — whether it’s a drone or a vibrator in a purple box — are making it to Stalingrad anymore,” quipped Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.
Destruction of the Wildberries warehouses mostly affects thousands of small and medium-sized companies that purchase equipment or resell items on the platform.
Analyst Viktor Kevliuk estimates the direct financial losses from the strikes so far at about 150-235 billion rubles ( $1.9–2.7 billion). Restocking the warehouses will cost up to 60 more billion rubles (about $750 million), with smaller companies bearing the costs.
For many of them, this means the immediate loss of the business, a Ukrainian financial analyst Oleh Bielinskyi said. Amid Russia’s bleak economic situation, this outcome is even more likely. The company’s recent decision to relocate some warehouses to Kazakhstan, in his opinion, would make them inaccessible to Ukrainian drones but send the prices for the delivery of goods soaring.
Issac is still in Ukraine, working to bring investments into the country’s defense sector. He’s following developments in the war closely, including the ongoing Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries.
“They finally realized their participation in the war had a cost when their warehouses exploded,” Isaac said.
Interested in more coverage about Ukrainian success on the battlefield? Take a look at these stories:
Can Ukraine keep striking beyond the front line without Fedorov?
“When will war end” searches peak in Russia
Russia’s oil empire running low on gas
How Ukraine is cutting off Russia’s land corridor to Crimea
Editor’s Note:
As Russia continues to attack Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and logistics, our team remains on the ground to report on how this war is being fought not only here, but also where it came from, in Russia itself.
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THE LATEST NEWS AT THIS HOUR:
By: Oleksandra Poda
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
UKRAINE ONLY SHOT DOWN 2 OUT OF 35 RUSSIAN MISSILES: On the night of August 1, Russia attacked Ukraine with 35 missiles of various types and 185 drones. Most of the strikes targeted the capital. Ukrainian air defense systems shot down two missiles and 154 drones. Meanwhile, 26 ballistic missiles and four anti-ship missiles reached their targets.
At least nine people were killed and more than 30 were wounded. According to Kyiv Mayor Klitschko, the area where medical transport was stationed was damaged. Five ambulances were completely burned, and 20 vehicles serving the capital’s healthcare facilities were severely damaged.
TRUMP DENIES PROMISE TO GRANT UKRAINE A PATRIOT LICENSE: On July 31, during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump stated that the U.S. “has not agreed” to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missiles, backtracking on a promise he had made personally and publicly to Zelenskyy in mid-July at the NATO summit in Ankara and reaffirmed during a meeting at the White House on July 29. “It’s a very extraordinary weapon, and . . . we have to be a little bit careful of who we license it to. We don’t really license equipment,” he said.
This contradicts Zelenskyy’s public statement after the July 29 meeting, in which he wrote that the two leaders had discussed Ukraine’s production of Patriot interceptors.
A MASS MARCH TOOK PLACE IN KYIV, AS PROTESTS ENTER THEIR THIRD WEEK: On July 31, thousands of Ukrainians marched down Khreshchatyk Street, marking the 16th day of demonstrations since the resignation of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The organizer of the march, Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a veteran, called on Zelenskyy to listen to the Ukrainian people and give Fedorov a year to implement reforms. In a July 29 interview, Fedorov hinted that his efforts to increase transparency in defense procurement may have been one of the reasons for his resignation.
Although Zelenskyy has partially met the protesters’ demands by dismissing Commander-in-Chief Syrsky and replacing him with Drapaty, he has not reinstated Fedorov to the Ministry of Defense.
DOG OF WAR:
After a sleepless night caused by a massive Russian attack, this little dog fell asleep almost as soon as she lay down on the small sofa in the coffee shop.
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Petro, Oleksandra and Mariana
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On the Patriots, when will people realize that for whatever reason, Trump will NEVER cross Putin. There was NEVER be a transfer of Patriot technology to Ukraine. There was never going to be. Ballistic missile attacks on civilians is all Putin has left. Trump will do everything to allow them to continue, and not aid in stopping them. How many times do we need to see this to understand? And the head fakes always appear as if choreographed by Putin himself. The next stop will be Trump's derailing of the Graham Russian sanctions ban. Watch.
A truly revealing and interesting article that takes the foreign reader behind the curtains concerning recent strikes against Wildberries. Thank you!