Are Ukraine's Strikes on Russia's 'Amazon' Equivalent Justified and Effective?

Over the past month, Ukraine has struck many facilities of the Russian commercial online retailer Wildberries – a company similar to Amazon – prompting media perspectives on whether the strikes are justifiable and/or effective.

For Context: Wildberries is privately owned by its founder Tatyana Kim, though mainstream Western outlets have reported that it has some associations with the Russian state. Ukraine began striking Wildberries facilities on July 18 and has hit seven of its 10 biggest warehouses since. Last weekend, Ukraine struck one in Samara as it has ramped up its attacks deep into Russia. Wildberries accounts for about half of Russia's total online shopping volume and almost 3% of its GDP.

Pro-Ukraine: In an opinion for The Kyiv Independent (Center), Liubov Tsybulska, director of the NGO Join Ukraine, offered three main reasons why Wildberries is a "legitimate military target" despite being a private company. First, Tsybulska noted that Russia has "systematically" struck "civilian logistics" in Ukraine, particularly Nova Poshta, for years. Second, she noted that military gear was included for sale on the platform and later removed, though she alleged the warehouses are "not as civilian as they look." Third, she said the strikes "have a side financial effect that works directly toward ending the war." She concluded, "Ukraine is fighting an adversary many times larger and stronger, one that imposes no rules at all – and to demand that the weaker side confine itself exclusively to 'classic' targets is to demand that it lose."

From the Center: Qatari outlet Al Jazeera (Lean Left) noted that Kyiv has accused Wildberries of selling gear to the Russian military, but that Wildberries and the Kremlin both deny this. It also said Russia has attacked Ukrainian "postal offices, energy infrastructure, hospitals and apartment buildings" for years, and that Ukraine views the Wildberries strikes as retaliation. Mykhailo Podolyaka, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the publication that the strikes are designed to cause "a huge impact on large social groups that pretend to be apolitical [and say] that the war doesn't involve them." Al Jazeera noted that on July 21, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "The Kyiv regime keeps hitting civilian targets, and that's the terrorist essence of the Kyiv regime." It also noted that some outside observers think the strikes won't have a meaningful effect on the Russian economy and that the Kremlin has discussed offering the company tax breaks or subsidies.

Pro-Russia: The newsroom of Kremlin-funded RT (Lean Right) wrote, "As Ukrainians cheer the destruction of Wildberries warehouses in Russia, Moscow's armed forces are unleashing a far more consequential campaign against Ukraine's Black Sea ports, which has rendered the country de-facto landlocked." RT framed the strikes as part of an "influence" campaign Ukraine is openly running with hopes of pressuring Russia into ending its military operations against the country. RT noted that by crippling Ukraine's Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhni ports, it has "frozen 55% of Ukraine's total exports." RT concluded, "Whatever thrill Ukraine's legion of online cheerleaders feel as they watch videos of burning Wildberries warehouses may prove short-lived."

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