Wildberries Logistics Centres Destroyed by Drones: Sellers Face $1bn Loss with No Insurance Safety Net

Two Strategic Warehouses Gutted, 7% of Wildberries’ Capacity Lost

On the night of 18 July, drone strikes sparked fires at two of Wildberries’ largest logistics centres—in Elektrostal near Moscow (250,000 sq m) and Kotovsk in the Tambov region (108,000 sq m). The blazes killed eight people, injured 86, and knocked out 7% of the marketplace’s total warehouse capacity. RWB immediately delisted all goods stored at the affected sites and declared operations otherwise normal.

Rebuilding costs are projected between 21.5 bn and 35.8 bn roubles ($240 m–$400 m), according to property analysts. But senior insurance sources told Kommersant that RWB typically does not insure its buildings, and this will likely leave the company to cover the rebuild on its own. Even if a policy exists, analysts warn that drone attacks are often classified as terrorist acts, a category that frequently excludes payouts.

The greater shock, however, falls on the tens of thousands of independent sellers who use Wildberries’ platform. Umbrella Consulting Group estimates total losses, including merchants’ destroyed stock, at no less than 100 bn roubles ($1.1 bn). Only 5–7% of sellers carry any insurance, and among those, at most 20% have cover for damages caused by drone-borne attacks. A new clause introduced into Wildberries’ seller agreement on 7 July explicitly classifies consequences of drone strikes as force majeure, meaning the platform has no legal obligation to compensate sellers for lost goods.

How Insurance Gaps, Force Majeure and a New Seller Clause Will Shape the Aftermath

Why Wildberries Is Unlikely to See an Insurance Payout

RWB’s previous warehouse fire in Shushary in January 2024 also went uninsured, according to market sources. Rosgosstrakh and SberStrakhovanie told Kommersant they do not insure the two recently damaged sites. Even if a broad policy existed, the process would be protracted: Maksim Alekhin of Rosgosstrakh warned that settlement could take up to a year, and everything hinges on how law-enforcement agencies classify the event—almost certainly as a terrorist act, which typically voids cover. Sergey Khudyakov of Mains noted that even if drone-attack risk were included, limits would be tiny relative to the full cost.

The Sellers’ Catch‑22: No Coverage, No Legal Claim

For the thousands of entrepreneurs who stored their inventory at the two centres, the financial blow is existential. Smaller sellers often had their entire working capital tied up in those goods. Andrey Kreer of Polis.online estimates that only 5–7% of Wildberries sellers hold any insurance policy, and only 10–20% of those policies extend to acts of diversion—at a premium rate of 0.4–1.2% of insured value. SberStrakhovanie confirmed its voluntary programme for sellers does not cover drone damage. Legally, the new force majeure clause, combined with Russian Civil Code norms, leaves sellers with no contractual path to reimbursement unless they can prove Wildberries failed to take adequate protective measures, a test that is difficult to meet.

Reputation and Politics Will Decide Seller Compensation

Despite the legal shield, RWB cannot afford to ignore the sellers’ plight. Alexey Moskalenko of the E-commerce Representative Association said sellers plan to begin negotiations with Wildberries management as soon as the week-long inventory assessment is complete. Kirill Agapov of Umbrella Consulting argues that any compensation programme will be “a matter of reputation and politics” for the marketplace. With few legal options, sellers’ best lever is public pressure—a media narrative of small businesses wiped out could damage Wildberries’ standing with both customers and the state. The firm has already offered temporary storage discounts and free regional deliveries, but that falls far short of covering the losses.

Immediate Steps for Sellers and the Marketplace After the Fire

The crisis leaves both sellers and the marketplace with hard choices:

• Sellers should immediately document all inventory lost and join the collective negotiating effort through the e-commerce association. Even without a legal right, a concerted media and business campaign may pressure Wildberries to establish a hardship fund.
• Wildberries faces a reputation test. Its response will set a precedent for future incidents. A voluntary compensation pool—perhaps funded from a fraction of the commissions it collects—would go further than any contractual argument in retaining seller loyalty.
• Review and redesign risk-sharing. The incident will accelerate demands for a transparent model: mandatory seller-funded insurance embedded in the platform, spread of inventory across multiple logistics centres, and clearer emergency response standards.
• Logistics network planners should reassess the concentration of such a large share of capacity in a few high-value facilities in regions exposed to drone attacks—a topic that will now be discussed at board level across Russian e‑commerce.