Wildberries depot destroyed, Russia mulls Kyiv strikes

A drone attack has caused a massive fire that destroyed a warehouse run by Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries as Ukraine pushes ahead with its campaign to hurt Moscow's economy by targeting online retailers.

Two people were wounded in the overnight strike in Russia's Tambov region, its governor Evgeniy Pervyshov wrote on the MAX messaging app.

The logistics centre was "completely destroyed by fire," he said. Earlier he said about 100,000 sq m of the facility was burning, the equivalent of 14 soccer pitches.

Ukraine has been hitting Wildberries facilities since mid-July and broadened its strategy in recent days to include the retailer's main rival, Ozon.

More than 20 Wildberries and Ozon warehouses have been attacked with at least 1.9 million sq m of warehouse space severely damaged by fire, according to Reuters analysis of satellite imagery.

The pair dominate one of the fastest-growing parts of the Russian economy, which is otherwise close to stagnation after four-and-a-half years of war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused Wildberries of having a role in Russia's military supply chain. Moscow and the company say its facilities are used for civilian purposes.

Separately, Russia is considering stepping up its ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, including targets in the city centre, and on critical infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine after concluding that efforts to negotiate a peace deal have reached a dead end, Bloomberg News reported, citing three people close to the Kremlin.

The report said negotiation frameworks had effectively collapsed, while President Vladimir Putin remained unlikely to end the war in response to sanctions or Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and logistics networks.

Moscow increasingly views Ukrainian strikes as attacks by NATO member states because alliance members supply Kyiv with weapons and intelligence.

Bloomberg reported there are no signs that Russia is preparing to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In the past, Moscow has repeatedly made nuclear threats in an effort to intimidate Ukraine's Western allies.

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Berlin-based Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told Bloomberg the risk of Moscow using tactical nuclear weapons remains extremely low.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to a request for comment.

Russia has been waging war against neighbouring Ukraine since February 2022 and claims large parts of the country's south and east. Of the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow, only Luhansk is considered to be almost entirely under Russian control.