Ukraine war briefing: Ozon next in Kyiv’s sights as sheds of Wildberries rival burn

Putin decree lets Russian state scoop up companies that come under attack; ‘dig into our stocks’ of Patriots, British PM urges allies.

What we know on day 1,644 Ukraine has targeted four more warehouses of Ozon – Russia’s second-largest online retailer after Wildberries, which has itself been crippled by Ukrainian attacks.

Ozon’s shares fell by almost 30% on Monday ​after it reported strikes in southern Russia that brought to six the number of its facilities targeted within three days .

Ozon said a logistics hub in Makhachkala in Dagestan was on fire and had halted operations after a drone attack in which “several people” were injured.

Another was on fire in Enem on the outskirts of the city of Krasnodar , while workers were evacuated from warehouses that came under attack in ​ Adygeysk, in the Adygeya region , and in Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol region .

In earlier events, drone strikes halted work at an Ozon ‌logistics centre in the Samara region and another ‌in the Orenburg region .

Financial analysts said that unlike privately owned Wildberries, which has the backing of ​state-owned bank VTB, Ozon’s main shareholder AFK Sistema has a large debt and is unlikely to provide substantial support .

Before the latest Ozon attacks, Vladimir Putin promised state help in the restoration of warehouses “at a new technological level” and asked the government to design a programme to help the sector.

The EU imposed sanctions on Ozon’s and Wildberries’ financial units on 24 July.

Putin has geared up the Russian state to seize control of companies like Wildberries and Ozon, as well as fuel companies and transport operators , by deeming them too poorly protected from Ukrainian attacks.

Special powers set out in a presidential decree will allow ⁠the state to take charge of them at a time when Ukraine has stepped up drone ⁠attacks on oil refineries and e-commerce warehouses .

The state will be able to seize physical and financial assets, ‌and assume formal ownership ‌rights, if entities responsible for such facilities are judged to have failed to protect them and are too slow to repair them after any attack.

It applies to fuel, energy, industrial, communications, transport and logistics facilities and other objects regarded as critically important for security and economic stability.

The ⁠ Ukrainian military struck ⁠a ⁠Russian Mig-29 fighter ​plane and two ⁠Russian vessels in the Black ⁠Sea, ​Ukraine’s ‌drone ‌forces commander ‌Robert Brovdi said on Monday.