Drone attacks between 22 and 24 August affected several logistics facilities belonging to Ozon in Russia. Fires broke out at a number of warehouses, work at individual centres was halted, and some orders began to be cancelled or redirected to other warehouses.
WHAT HAPPENED
According to Ozon's press service, the attacks affected logistics centres in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, the settlement of Enem in Adygea, and Makhachkala.
In Chapayevsk, a fire broke out after the attack, and more than 500 employees were evacuated from the building. The company reported casualties. In Orenburg Oblast, more than 300 workers were evacuated, and the fire that broke out was extinguished.
On the night of 24 August, fires occurred at facilities in Enem and Makhachkala. In Adygea, employees were evacuated and, preliminarily, no one was injured. In Makhachkala, several workers sustained injuries, though according to the company, there is no threat to their lives or health.
WHY TWO MORE WAREHOUSES WERE CLOSED
Ozon warehouses in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk were evacuated due to the threat of drone attacks. Employees were not injured, and the facilities themselves, along with the goods inside them, were reportedly undamaged.
However, the warehouses were temporarily closed. Emergency services worked at the sites.
HOW THE ATTACKS AFFECTED ORDERS
Ozon said that goods from the affected warehouses are being hidden from the marketplace's listings. Orders that cannot be fulfilled from other facilities are being cancelled, and customers are being refunded.
Deliveries from sellers to the affected facilities have been temporarily suspended. Logistics routes are being redistributed among other warehouses.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE UKRAINIAN SIDE'S POSITION
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, after the first strike, announced the start of a series of attacks on Ozon hubs. Kyiv calls these facilities centres for storing dual-use goods and states that the aim is to disrupt Russian logistics and inflict economic damage.
CONTEXT
Since 18 July, Wildberries warehouses in several Russian regions have been subjected to attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Among the affected facilities are logistics complexes in St Petersburg, the Moscow region, Crimea, Tambov and Voronezh Oblasts, as well as in the Stavropol and Krasnodar Krais.
Later, it became known that the RWB group, which develops the Wildberries marketplace, had begun searching for warehouse premises in Kazakhstan. According to sources, the company is considering leasing up to 100,000 sq m of warehouse space, and is also redistributing goods between logistics facilities following the drone attacks on warehouses in Russia.
According to the words of Trade Minister Arman Shakkaliyev, Wildberries will build a logistics complex with an area of 160,000 sq m in Astana and around 100–103,000 sq m in Almaty. The minister noted that information about the construction of these facilities had appeared long before the attacks on the marketplace's infrastructure in Russia.
