A Ukrainian drone strike set fire to a major logistics hub of the Russian e-commerce giant Ozon in the southern town of Adygeysk overnight on Tuesday-Wednesday, November 3-4, the company and a regional official said on Wednesday — the latest hit in Kyiv's widening campaign against the warehouse networks that move goods across Russia.

Source: Reuters

Ozon said all employees were evacuated from the site and that it was not aware of any casualties from the strike. A fire broke out at the logistics centre and emergency services were working at the scene, the company said. Regional head Murat Kumpilov said firefighters had been deployed to tackle the blaze at Adygeysk, in the Republic of Adygea in Russia's North Caucasus.

Source: Reuters

Damage beyond the warehouse

Kumpilov said debris from drones also fell in two nearby villages, causing damage but no casualties. Reports said drone debris damaged a residential gas pipeline and the windows of a private house in the village of Petrov, in Adygea's Teuchezhsky district. Part of the warehouse roof was reported to have collapsed in the fire, though the full extent of the damage was still being assessed as firefighters worked.

Source: Associated Press

Orders cancelled, deliveries paused

Ozon said it would remove products stored at the Adygeysk warehouse from its online listings, cancel any orders it cannot fulfil from other facilities, reroute shipments already in transit to other hubs, and temporarily stop accepting deliveries from sellers at the centre. Customers can keep ordering, the company said, with fulfilment moved to other centres. No reopening date was given.

Source: Reuters

A campaign against Russia's shopping warehouses

The Adygeysk strike is part of a wider campaign in which Ukraine has hit dozens of huge warehouses operated by Ozon and its bigger rival Wildberries since July, in order to disrupt Russia's economy and war effort, Reuters reported. Kyiv has alleged that both retailers play a role in Russia's military supply chain; Moscow and the two companies maintain that the facilities are commercial. Those competing claims have not been independently settled.

Source: Associated Press

The same night, Russia struck back at Ukraine's grid

The warehouse fire came during one of the heaviest nights of drone exchanges in weeks. Ukraine's air force said Russia attacked with 310 drones overnight, including 81 jet-powered drones, and that 272 were shot down or suppressed; the strikes disrupted power and water in Kyiv and surrounding regions before supplies were partly restored on Wednesday. Rescuers in the southern village of Komyshuvakha were still searching rubble from Monday's Russian bombing of an aid point, where officials have confirmed 37 deaths.

Source: Associated Press

What happens next

Firefighting and damage assessment at Adygeysk were still under way when the reports were published, and Ozon gave no date for reopening one of its main southern hubs. The strikes land a week before US-mediated talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11, announced by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which are meant to discuss ending the conflict, postwar security agreements and de-escalation — even as both sides escalate the air war over warehouses, power plants and cities.

Source: Reuters

For shoppers and sellers across southern Russia the immediate effect is delays and cancelled orders; for Ukraine's campaign, each burned warehouse raises the cost of the war economy Ozon itself has now priced at 30.1 billion roubles — yaani about $367 million — across 11 sites.

Source: Reuters