Libya Power Crisis Explodes as Grid Fails Again

By Charles Kennedy - Aug 17, 2026

Libya’s electricity grid suffered another major collapse on Monday, knocking power plants offline across western, central and southern parts of the country, shutting down the Great Man-Made River water system, fueling widespread public anger in a country already divided between rival power centers.

The Zawiya, Khoms and Ubari power plants went offline, with large parts of western and central Libya losing electricity. The Libya Herald reported that it was the third major blackout to hit western Libya in two days. The cause of Monday’s simultaneous outages has not been established.

The failure also spread to the water system. The Great Man-Made River Authority said electricity cuts forced all pumping stations under its control to stop operating, including the wellfields and the Tarhouna pumping station. The network supplies much of Libya’s population with water from underground aquifers deep inside the Sahara.

Weeks of outages have triggered demonstrations, road blockades and closures of government institutions, including protests directed at Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity in Tripoli.

That public anger is becoming increasingly dangerous for the political arrangement that has divided Libya between Dbeibah’s government in the west and the Haftar family’s power base in the east. The rival camps have maintained an uneasy equilibrium that gives both sides access to state institutions and the country’s oil revenues. Washington has been trying to turn that arrangement into a more formal political settlement while encouraging U.S. oil companies to expand in the country.

Libya’s deteriorating energy system is now putting additional pressure on that fragile alliance from the public.

Protesters stormed the Mellitah oil and gas complex in late July, temporarily disrupting production at the El Feel and Wafa fields and interfering with gas supplies used for electricity generation. Libya then suffered a series of drone attacks around the Zawiya energy hub this month, including strikes on oil infrastructure and a major attack that left more than 700 MW of the 1,300-MW Zawiya plant unavailable.

The National Oil Corporation warned last week that continued attacks could force it to declare force majeure on exports from Zawiya.

Libya is producing around 1.4 million barrels per day and wants to raise output to 2 million bpd in the early 2030s. But the same oil revenues that have helped enrich Libya’s rival political camps have yet to filter down into basic, reliable electricity service.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Ukraine’s attacks on Wildberries will hit foreign traders for tens of millions, says company CEO

Wildberries is treating the destruction as caused by force majeure events, meaning no mandatory compensation payouts are legally due to traders suffering losses.Facebook

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By bne IntelliNews August 3, 2026

Ukraine’s drone strikes on Wildberries depots in Russia have run up losses equivalent to tens of millions of dollars for traders from across Central Asia, Belarus, Armenia, China and other countries, according to the founder and CEO of the company known as “Russia’s Amazon”, Tatyana Kim.

Kyiv has insisted that the bombing campaign aimed at Wildberries since mid-July is justified because the ecommerce giant secures supplies used by the Russian defence industry and armed forces, but in a video message posted on Telegram, Kim said:  "Strikes against us are strikes against hundreds of millions of people in [markets in] 10 countries simultaneously."

Wildberries, added Kim, was treating the drone attacks as force majeure events, meaning that the losses were not subject legally to mandatory compensation payouts under Russian law, regardless of the terms in seller agreements.

Wildberries was, though, working with the Russian government to develop a support scheme for affected traders and had already gone through with two payment tranches for sellers whose goods were damaged or destroyed in the attacks, she said.

In terms of Central Asia, Kim specified entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as being among the worst hit by losses.

Kim rejected the Ukrainian allegations that Wildberries sells military goods, inviting comparisons with Amazon and Alibaba's product ranges. On July 26, Azattyk reported that the  Wildberries "Everything for the Special Military Operation" goods section had disappeared from the e-retailer’s website. "Military goods are still available, but they have been placed in different categories," The Moscow Times was reported as writing, pointing to bulletproof vests and protective helmets in the "sports" section and FPV drones in the "TV, audio, photo, video equipment" category.

In Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz Tailors Association has appealed to the government for help in protecting the interests of Kyrgyz entrepreneurs pursuing compensation for losses incurred in the wave of attacks on Wildberries.

In Russia-neighbouring Kazakhstan, multiple local media reports, with particular reference to articles in Russia’s Kommersant, have explored whether reports are correct that Wildberries was looking for major warehouse space it could use in the country. However, the government has said it has received no official approach from the company.

Dozens of people have been killed in the attacks on Wildberries, including a Tajik national. 

 

Greek LNG Ship Safely Clears Hormuz After Maritime Incident

By Irina Slav - Aug 03, 2026

A Greek-owned liquefied natural gas carrier was involved in an “incident” in the Strait of Hormuz at the end of last week while exiting the waterway, the owner company said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.

The vessel is stable, and the crew is safe, Gas Log said, without specifying the nature of the incident.

“Gas Log LNG Services immediately activated their emergency plan, notified all relevant authorities, and is currently assessing the condition of the vessel and assure the safety of our people,” the Greek shipper said.

The Gas Log Shanghai had loaded liquefied gas in Qatar in late July and began its journey out of the Persian Gulf at the end of last week. As of late Sunday, the vessel was detected just outside the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters said, citing ship-tracking data.

The publication noted in its report that on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations outlet had reported two incidents involving vessels off the coast of Oman. In one of the incidents, a tanker was “struck by an unknown projectile.” There was also another report about an incident involving a tanker in the waterway.

These reports suggest the Strait of Hormuz is still a risky place to try and cross, yet last week Bloomberg reported that QatarEnergy had successfully sent an LNG carrier through the chokepoint. That was three weeks after the Qatarai company saw one of its tankers struck in the strait.

QatarEnergy also reportedly bought 33 LNG cargoes in what appears to be a sign that the liquefied gas export major was seeking to ramp up its sales despite the force majeure that is still in effect for its Ras Laffan gas hub. Back in June, QatarEnergy said it could restore 50% of production at the facility within a month.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Dark Tanker Transits Surge at Bab el-Mandeb as Houthi Threat Persists

By Charles Kennedy - Aug 03, 2026
The Houthi threat to shipments of Saudi crude oil from the Red Sea hasn’t abated and more tankers laden with Saudi oil appeared to have made the transit through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in dark mode.

Two tankers that had loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu have likely exited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in southern direction with their transponders off, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data it is monitoring.

The Greece-owned Lesvos tanker of the Suezmax size and the supertanker Desh Vaibhav, flying the Indian flag, were last transmitting near the Yanbu port on Saturday, before re-appearing on the AIS monitoring systems offshore southern Oman on Monday, according to the data.

Satellite images at the port of Yanbu showed at least five tankers berthed there on Saturday, which may have been the busiest day at the Saudi port on the Red Sea since the Houthis threatened to disrupt Saudi oil exports two weeks ago.

Since the Houthis announced they would attempt to choke off Saudi shipments, Saudi Arabia has re-routed part of its exports northward to Egypt and the Suez Canal while the other vessels have increasingly gone dark while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the south.

Last week, six tankers turned away in the Arabian Sea from Bab el-Mandeb after the Houthi threats to Saudi shipping and actual attacks on tankers prompted Saudi Arabia to re-route its crude oil exports, again, to Egypt.

The tankers were indicating destinations such as either Gibraltar or the South African ports of Durban or Algoa Bay, all of which are major refueling hubs, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg at the end of last week.

Separately, more than half a dozen empty supertankers were en route to Egypt's Sidi Kerir port last week to pick up Saudi crude, as the world's top crude oil exporter is re-routing – again – its export tactics to avoid the new threat at Bab el-Mandeb.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

  

How the heatwave is taking a toll on European industry as key waterways run low

Copyright AP Photo/Daniel Kiss

By Indrabati Lahiri

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

Prolonged low water levels have forced several European industries, including oil refining, nuclear power and chemicals, to reduce output because of raw-material and cooling-water shortages.

Europe has faced increasingly severe heatwaves in recent years, with the past few months bringing a number of extreme heat-related incidents, including droughts and wildfires across Spain, France, Italy and elsewhere.

But a further impact has been emerging in other parts of Europe, as key waterways such as the Rhine and the Danube have fallen to exceptionally low levels, in some places breaking records.

This could make cargo transport significantly more difficult, potentially forcing vessels to carry smaller loads, causing commercial shipping on parts of these routes to grind almost to a halt or requiring operators to adopt more cumbersome alternatives.

Major European industries, including oil refining and chemicals, could therefore face severe disruption.

How could drying waterways affect key European industries?

One of the main ways in which low water levels affect European industries is by preventing cargo ships from carrying full loads. Operators must instead divide cargo between several vessels or shift some freight to road or rail.

The key measuring point at Kaub, on the Rhine, dropped below the critical level of 30 centimetres. It was measured at 27 centimetres in late July this year, according to ICIS, and was forecast to fall further. The reading refers to the Kaub gauge, not the river’s total depth or the navigable channel depth.

The Rhine flows for about 1,230 kilometres, or 765 miles, from the Swiss Alps through or along Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands before reaching the North Sea, making it a vital lifeline for transport, tourism and industry in these places.

Low water levels have severely disrupted Rhine shipping, with most inland vessels unable to pass the Kaub bottleneck by 27 July, shipowners told commodity-market intelligence provider Argus. Cargo volumes were heavily restricted for vessels still able to make the journey, driving freight rates to record levels. "In practice, the Upper Rhine and the Main rivers are now effectively cut off from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trade hub," Argus said in a report on Wednesday.

Relate

For the chemical and petrochemical industries, reduced navigable depths restrict deliveries of essential materials such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from North Sea ports to inland factories.

Commodity intelligence provider ICIS reported that LyondellBasell had declared force majeure on butadiene supplies from its Wesseling plant after low water levels disrupted feedstock deliveries. According to the media outlet, BASF also flagged possible force majeures (FMs) or product shortages as it relies on the river for transport.

Industrial cooling systems and cargo on the Danube are also impacted

Rising water temperatures have also made industrial cooling systems less efficient, further increasing operational pressures. This is especially important for nuclear and thermal power plants.

The oil and energy industries in this region have faced steep low-water surcharges and rising freight rates for shipping diesel and petroleum products upriver, threatening inland distribution. Similarly, coal-fired power stations are struggling to secure fuel supplies as barge loads drop considerably.

The steel and heavy manufacturing industries have not been spared either. Industrial giant Thyssenkrupp has slightly reduced blast furnace production at its Duisburg plant because barges carrying raw materials have struggled to navigate shallow chokepoints such as Kaub. The industrial company also suspended its own barge operations and chartered shallower-draught vessels, although it said customer deliveries were not at risk.

Related

• How Europe's growing need for cooling is reshaping electricity demand

Capacity on nearby rail and road networks is already limited, meaning they cannot fully replace the lost barge capacity. This has increased the risk of further economic disruption, particularly as water levels are not expected to improve anytime soon.

Similarly, the River Danube, which flows through or borders ten countries, including Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, has seen historically low water levels this July.

Due to continued high temperatures and a lack of rainfall, the Danube fell to a record-low gauge reading of 23 centimetres in Budapest at 10 a.m. CEST on Thursday, 10 centimetres below the previous record in 2018, according to Hungary’s official water-monitoring service. The figure measures the water level against a fixed local reference point rather than the river’s physical depth. The authority forecast a further decline over the coming days.

The Hungarian Construction and Transport Ministry said in its latest update on Tuesday that most cargo vessels had been halted along the Hungarian section of the Danube, while those still operating were carrying only 10% to 20% of their normal loads. Around 15 hotel ships were also stranded.

The disruption is not uniform along the river. The Associated Press reported that cargo shipping had stopped in some affected areas, while vessels continued operating with sharply reduced loads elsewhere. In Serbia, for example, barges and tankers were carrying about 30% to 40% of their normal capacity.

Energy supplies are impacted in Hungary and Romania

The low water levels have also forced Hungary’s Paks Nuclear Power Plant to reduce output and shut down one of its four reactors, according to operator MVM. Hungarian media reported that it was the first-ever shutdown of a complete block at the nuclear plant. Combined with earlier reductions, the shutdown brought the plant’s output down to about 60% of capacity.

Similarly, Romania’s state-owned nuclear power producer, Nuclearelectrica, shut down Unit 1 at the Cernavodă power plant on Tuesday because of what it described as the “very low, unprecedented” level of the Danube. Romania’s energy ministry said Unit 2 would be disconnected early on Thursday, leaving both reactors offline simultaneously because of low water levels for the first time.

The shutdowns are increasing pressure on regional electricity supplies. Hungary is replacing the lost output with a combination of imports and domestic gas-fired generation, according to Mavir data cited by Hungary’s national news agency, MTI. Romania’s Energy Ministry said the loss of both reactors would increase its reliance on imports, putting further upward pressure on power prices, Reuters reported.

Fuel transport in Serbia has been affected too. The country received only 25% of its planned fuel imports in July because low Danube levels restricted barge deliveries, Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović said. The government subsequently authorised energy companies to draw on operational fuel reserves to safeguard supplies.

Low water levels have also affected agriculture, disrupting grain shipments and irrigation in Serbia, including in the northern agricultural region of Vojvodina. In Romania, the authorities have restricted irrigation as flows on the Danube fell to their lowest level since 1996, while river shipping has also been partially disrupted.

Related

• Extreme heat in Europe: Which countries face the biggest costs?
• French wildfires threaten defence sites and hit regional economy

What measures can be used to counter low water levels?

One of the biggest challenges with the Rhine and some parts of the Danube is that they have rocky beds, which cannot be easily dredged.

As such, addressing low water levels requires a mix of engineering, technological and logistical measures to keep cargo ships moving.

German authorities are already planning the Optimisation of Load Draughts on the Middle Rhine project, which aims to deepen the shipping channel by 20 centimetres at critical bottlenecks between Mainz and St Goar, including Kaub. Similarly, modifying river walls and other barriers can direct more water into the navigation channel, helping to maintain sufficient depth.

Upgrading existing locks can help regulate upstream water retention during particularly severe dry spells on regulated sections of rivers.

Ship design and technology can also be adapted to these conditions through the use of shallow-draught vessels. Companies including HGK Shipping and BASF are already using or developing low-water vessels capable of carrying significant loads at reduced river depths.

Using lightweight materials such as high-tensile steel can help support these designs by reducing a vessel’s empty weight and allowing it to carry more cargo when water levels are low.

On the supply chain and logistics side, shifting freight between different forms of transport, such as moving time-sensitive goods to rail or road networks when river capacity drops, can help maintain smoother operations.

Building larger storage facilities at inland ports allows companies to stockpile raw materials during high-water seasons. Using networks of smaller, shallower vessels instead of single mega-barges can also distribute the cargo’s weight.

Hungary declared an emergency drought alert on Thursday after drought thresholds were exceeded in 66 of the country’s 84 water-management districts, Environment Minister László Gajdos said.

“This means that experts from the Water Management Authority will carry out drought relief measures at the highest alert level across 74% of the country,” he added, according to Hungarian news website Telex.

Europe's heatwaves are fuelling infectious diseases, health agency warns

Copyright AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj

By Marta Iraola Iribarren

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

As summers are getting longer and hotter, health experts warn that higher temperatures are creating the perfect conditions for infectious diseases to spread across Europe.

The risk of infectious diseases is growing amid longer and warmer summers across Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has warned.

Close cooperation across borders and sectors is now vital to effectively predict, prevent and respond to these threats

“While the current heatwaves are making headlines, it is the continuously higher temperatures of an ever longer duration that create the conditions for many infections to spread,” the health agency said in a press release.

As climate change widens the range of public health threats, the ECDC added, there is a growing need for longer-term strategic collaboration across the human, environmental, and animal sectors.

There are four particular areas the ECDC is monitoring:

Foodborne diseases

These are among the most frequent summer illnesses, with rising temperatures accelerating bacterial growth in food, the agency warned.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hot and humid weather creates ideal conditions for germs to multiply quickly, making food unsafe – often without any obvious change in its appearance, taste or smell.

Good hygiene practices help reduce the risk: washing fruit and vegetables before eating them, keeping raw and cooked food separate, cooking food thoroughly, and storing it at safe temperatures.

Mosquitoes

Mosquito-borne diseases are becoming more common in Europe, as longer warm and humid seasons allow invasive mosquitoes to thrive in regions where they were previously rare or entirely absent.

Diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and West Nile virus are becoming an increasing public health concern in the region.

The West Nile transmission season typically runs from late spring to autumn, peaking between July and September, with cases reported this year in Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania and Spain, according to the WHO.

Related

• How to avoid West Nile virus as cases start to rise in Europe

Insect repellent, protective clothing and indoor precautions, including window screens, air conditioning or mosquito nets, offer good protection, the ECDC noted.

People should also make sure that water does not collect around their homes or in their gardens, as stagnant water can allow mosquitoes to breed.

Tick-borne diseases

Ticks are another insect commonly associated with summer, found across Europe.

Ticks do not cause disease on their own, but infected ticks can transmit viruses or bacteria through their bites, causing illnesses such as tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease, which can lead to long-term health complications.

Vaccination is also one of the most effective means of preventing tick-borne encephalitis, for which the European region reports an average of 3,000 cases every year.

The ECDC recommends wearing long sleeves and long trousers when hiking or spending time in parks, and checking for ticks and removing them after spending time outdoors.

Vibriosis

Vibrio is a species of waterborne bacteria that thrives in temperate and warm waters with moderate salinity.

The bacteria can cause vibriosis in people who are in contaminated waters or eat contaminated seafood.

Although Vibrio infections remain relatively rare in Europe, several northern countries bordering the Baltic Sea have reported increases in recent years, noted the ECDC.

According to the agency, this has been particularly evident during summers with extended heatwaves and higher water temperatures. Recommendations include avoiding swimming with open cuts, scratches or recent piercings, and making sure that seafood from these areas is well cooked helps reduce the likelihood of infection.

The ECDC tracks the bacteria's spread through an interactive map, updated daily with a five-day forecast.

Wildberries Russia warehouse strikes leave sellers facing more than $1bn in losses

The destruction of two logistics hubs belonging to Wildberries, “The Amazon of Russia” by Ukrainian drones has caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage to the company, but also exposes insurance gaps and threatens the survival of thousands of small Russian businesses. / bne IntelliNewsFacebook

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By Ben Aris in Berlin July 20, 2026

Ukrainian drone strikes on two of Wildberries’ largest warehouses could leave Russia’s biggest online marketplace and its merchants facing losses of more than RUB100bn ($1.28bn), with independent sellers expected to bear the greater part of the damage, The Bell reported on July 20.

The attacks overnight at the weekend struck logistics centres in Elektrostal, east of Moscow, and Kotovsk in the Tambov region. Seven night-shift workers were killed in Kotovsk and another person later died after the Elektrostal attack, while more than 80 people were injured, according to Russian officials. Fires continued at the Elektrostal complex for more than a day.

The two centres formed an important part of Wildberries’ distribution system as well as providing a platform for the businesses of thousands of entrepreneurs. The Elektrostal facility was a principal hub serving Moscow and its surrounding region, while Kotovsk was a recently opened, highly automated regional centre capable of holding as many as 54mn items.

Using a conservative estimate of 250,000 square metres for Elektrostal and 108,000 square metres for Kotovsk, the facilities represented about 7% of the logistics estate of Wildberries and Russ, the merged group known as RWB, The Bell reported. The company had more than 200 logistics sites covering 5.2mn square metres at the end of 2025. Some estimates put the full Elektrostal complex at more than 360,000 square metres, implying that the affected share could be larger.

The loss will not paralyse Wildberries’ operations, but it is likely to put severe pressure on deliveries around Moscow, its most important market, and force the company to reroute millions of items through more distant warehouses.

The Bell estimated that rebuilding the two facilities alone could cost between RUB21bn and RUB35bn ($268mn-$447mn), based on construction costs of RUB60,000-RUB100,000 ($766-$1,277) per square metre. That calculation excludes the value of equipment, destroyed merchandise, lost revenue, logistics disruption and any compensation paid to merchants.

The direct cost should be manageable for RWB, which reported RUB175bn ($2.23bn) in net profit and gross merchandise value of RUB6.1tn ($77.9bn) in 2025. The group invested more than RUB310bn ($3.96bn) in logistics, IT infrastructure and new businesses during the year.

Merchants hit hardest

The larger financial threat falls on Wildberries’ sellers, many of which stored most or all of their inventory at Elektrostal.

“For many, Elektrostal served as their primary warehouse; for some sellers, the loss of goods spells the total collapse of their business and irreparable financial damage,” The Bell said.

Kirill Agapov, managing partner of Umbrella Consulting Group, told The Bell he estimated that combined losses from the two warehouse fires would exceed RUB100bn ($1.28bn), with merchants carrying most of the burden.

The previous large Wildberries warehouse fire provides a guide to the possible bill. A blaze at Shushary near St Petersburg in January 2024 caused an estimated RUB10bn-RUB12bn ($128mn-$153mn) of direct damage. Wildberries subsequently paid sellers RUB34.9bn ($446mn), covering about 95% of the assessed losses on their goods.

Applying a similar ratio to Elektrostal and Kotovsk would produce a compensation bill several times greater than the cost of reconstructing the buildings.

Wildberries has not disclosed the value of inventory destroyed or the extent of its insurance coverage. The Shushary case is not a clear precedent: the warehouse itself was widely reported to lack adequate property insurance, although Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest woman and Wildberries’ co-founder and chief executive, later said that goods had been insured while in storage and transit.

Insurance coverage among sellers appears to be extremely limited. Insurance industry sources cited by Kommersant estimated that only 5-7% of Wildberries merchants had obtained their own policies, and that only 10-20% of those policies covered sabotage or military-related damage.

New terms and conditions

The uncertainty has been intensified by a change to Wildberries’ standard seller agreement that took effect on July 7, just 11 days before the attacks. The new terms exempt the company from liability for losses caused by “force majeure”, explicitly including artillery fire, drone and missile attacks, military equipment, political protests, strikes and riots.

Wildberries therefore appears to have no contractual obligation to reimburse merchants. However, Kim has said that the company is nevertheless working on compensation.

“Despite the emergency and the absence of an obligation to compensate for lost goods, we are already working out the volume of payments to sellers and other financial-support measures,” she said.

Kim said the company would conduct an “assessment to determine the payout amount for our sellers”, which could take as long as 30 days.

Initial measures fall short of direct compensation. Wildberries has offered temporary discounts on storage charges, free transfers of merchandise to some regional warehouses and accelerated payments of sales revenue.

WB Bank will provide affected small and medium-sized companies with up to six months’ deferral on debt repayments, as well as preferential loans. The bank has also said it will consider requests from affected merchants as a priority.

For sellers whose entire working capital was tied up in stock at Elektrostal, additional borrowing may only postpone insolvency. One electronics merchant said he had lost PlayStation consoles with a retail value of RUB10mn-RUB12mn ($128,000-$153,000) and was selling his car for RUB2.8mn ($36,000) to finance replacement inventory. Another seller said the combined effect of higher commissions and the warehouse losses had made trading through Wildberries commercially unviable.

Politically sensitive

The compensation decision has also become politically sensitive ahead of Russia’s State Duma elections on September 20. Wildberries provides the main route to market for tens of thousands of small manufacturers, importers and retailers, many of which could struggle to survive without assistance.

Even the state television programme Vesti Nedeli described Wildberries as a “people’s” business, claiming that Ukraine had targeted it to “pressure Russians with Western support” and cause “problems, including a psychological reaction among the public”.

Wildberries is unlikely to commit its entire annual profit to compensation. But transferring most of the losses to sellers risks bankruptcies, litigation and an exodus of merchants to rival marketplaces or their own distribution channels.

The attacks have exposed a structural weakness in the marketplace model: Wildberries controls the warehouses and logistics network, but much of the merchandise — and therefore much of the financial risk — belongs to its partners.

The goal of Bankova, Ukraine’s presidential administration, was likely to be exactly this: bring the war in Ukraine into the homes of regular Russians, who Russian President Vladimir Putin has been careful to insulate from his war until now. In a sign of how painful the warehouse strike was, Russia unleashed one of its most intense missile barrages on Kyiv the following day as the tit-for-tat missile war continues to intensify.

Turkish readywear retailer Koton’s stock damaged by Ukrainian bombing of Wildberries warehouses in Russia

By Akin Nazli in Belgrade July 21, 2026

Inventory of Turkish fashion retailer Koton (KOTON) held at fulfillment centres belonging to Russian ecommerce giant Wildberries has been damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks, Koton said on July 20.

The apparel group said the damaged stocks at two major Wildberries logistics facilities was equivalent to 0.4% of its total assets as of end-Q1.

The logistics hubs operated by Russia’s leading ecommerce platform, owned by Ozon (Moscow/OZON), were struck during aerial attacks on July 17.

Koton said the incident would not exert a material impact on its financial position, ongoing operations or business continuity.

Wildberries is currently conducting comprehensive damage assessment procedures at the affected sites and it has pledged support measures for impacted vendor partners. Koton noted that it is actively pursuing indemnity claims under its existing property and cargo insurance policies, working in close coordination with local and regional insurance brokers to recover losses.

Exodus of Western brands

Following the exodus of Western retailers from Russia in the wake of the Kremlin's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turkish apparel chains stepped in aggressively to expand into vacated commercial spaces and digital marketplaces across Russia.

Wildberries serves as the central digital distribution backbone for foreign apparel and consumer goods imported into Russia, making it a critical sales channel for Turkish brands navigating Russian consumer demand.

In April, Koton ended store operations by closing its two locations in Ukraine and decided to continue operations in the country via online channels.

War in the north, war in the south

Koton has also been expanding into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, which is imperilled by the continuing Iran War. On July 16, the company said that it launched a third store in Oman in addition to a fourth store in Qatar.

The company also operates stores in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

So far, the company’s GCC stores remain unaffected by the conflict.

In March, the company launched its seventh franchise store in Azerbaijan. In December, it opened its sixth store in Hungary.

As of end-March, Koton operated 464 stores, including 226 franchise stores. A total of 226 stores were abroad, including 76 franchise stores.

Koton, launched in 1988, opened its first stores in the Middle East, Russia and Balkans in 2002.

MOSCOW BLOG: Hitting the Wildberries warehouse is a lot more painful than it looks

Ukraine destroyed the warehouse of Russia's biggest e-commerce site. It did more damage than just disrupting grocery deliveries. Thousands of small businesses rely on the new marketplaces for their livelihoods. / bne IntelliNewsFacebook

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By Ben Aris in Berlin July 20, 2026

The tit-for-tat missile war escalated at the weekend after Ukraine hit the largest distribution centre belonging to Wildberries, the “Amazon of Russia.” The Kremlin hit back the next day with a massive drone and missile barrage.

The war has entered a new and brutally destructive phase with both sides adopting a “punishment strategy” – both are deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and assets with the intention of just making people’s lives hell.

Zelenskiy was careful to say that Wildberries sells things like drone parts and both Wildberries, and its Ukrainian equivalent Nova Poshta, are used by regular people to send their men at the front care packages and supplies.

Zelenskiy claims the military supply component makes the Wildberries’ warehouse a legitimate military target, but we all know what is going on here: the AFU just wants to bring the war into the homes of regular Russians, who have been largely insulated from the effects until now. Pictures coming out of Moscow over the weekend show a huge black cloud over the city leading people to quip that it looks like Mordor.

But destroying the Wildberries’ warehouse is actually a lot more painful than it first appears. Wildberries became not only the largest e-commerce site in Russia, but the largest retail outlet of any kind in 2019 when it overtook Sportsmaster, the previous leader. The destruction of its stockpile is not just going to make shopping harder, it has also destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of SMEs that have already been struggling due to the sharp economic slowdown this year.

People (and the sanctions) focus on Russia’s oil wealth, but as I detailed in a piece way back in 2004, Russia is a “Soviet Sandwich” – there is a top piece of tasty and nutritious bread that is the oil and gas sector, but there is also a bottom piece equally appealing that is the retail sector. The middle was made up of greasy, grislily, and unhealthy pink processed and unreformed Soviet industrial sausage meat. There is a reason why half of all Russia’s imports over the last three decades has been machinery.

People forget how vast Russia’s consumer market is: 150mn gadget- and fashion-hungry punters. That is half as big again as Germany, the second most populous country in Europe. Pre-war retail turnover was approaching half a trillion dollars – about one third of GDP. This is why companies like Auchan and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) refuse to leave the Russian market – when I was at the EIU companies told me that not only was Russia their biggest market in terms of headcount, but also their most profitable, because the barriers to entry were so high, that pushed up the profit margins.

The upshot is amongst my Russian friends from the 1990s, anyone that had any good idea for any product or service, quickly became a millionaire, simply because the market is vast.

Light manufacturing  Which brings us to Wildberries and why it is so successful. The second unusual factor that plays into this equation is not only is the consumer market vast, but so is the country. To get your goods to punters you have to send them over huge distances – literally halfway across the planet if a Moscow widget-maker sells something to a customer in Vladivostok.

Companies like Wildberries, and its rival Ozon (see my 2019 interview with the boss here), stepped into the breach here and have set up marketplaces which have become the basis of a flourishing micro-economy. But crucially they also set up the logistics distribution network. As Ozon CEO Alexander Shulgin told me: “Someone that makes nice chairs used to only be able to sell them to people in his town or city. What we do is open up the whole country to these craftsmen.” The way it works is you make your wooden stylish chair and drop it off at the local distribution centre (or they come and pick it up) but once it goes online and is sold, Wildberries or Ozon take over and will send it anywhere in the country, as well as taking care of billing and collection. Suddenly a small shop in Ryazan has access to 150mn people.

This is Germany’s Mittelstand with knobs on. The German version is thousands of small firms that make things like specialist high precision engineering goods or machines that they sell to bigger companies. The Russian version is much broader and is largely B2C rather than Germany’s B2B.

In other words, we are talking about jobs for regular people. The online marketplaces make it even easier to invent yourself as an entrepreneur in Russia than in Germany, and a very successful one at that if you have a good product.

This process has also been fuelled in a fundamental change in the cost of production. A great example and early success story was Obuv Rossii, a Siberian shoe shop, catering to the middle classes. The CEO, Anton Titov, told me that he used to have his shoes made in China, but after a decade of growth, Chinese wages grew at the same time as the ruble devalued to the point where it became cheaper to make things in Russia. China stopped being the world’s factory, as Chinese President Xi Jinping switched from an export-led economic model to a consumption-led one. This led to an explosion of light-weight manufacturing investment that was catalysed by online market places which appeared at exactly the right time to solve the very serious marketing and distribution problems overnight. In many ways Russia’s online sector has leapfrogged western retail which still relies on bricks and mortar chains on the high street.

Russia is physically so big, and the cities so spread out, that the physical distribution and shop networks make a lot less sense as they are so much more expensive. The heart of the online marketplace revolution is that a handful of leading companies have basically concentrated Russia’s entire logistics into a few centrally controlled systems that cover the whole range of products to make it as efficient as possible and have the economies of scale. The same is true to Ukraine’s Nova Poshta, probably the best company in the country.

Russia skipped over the light manufacturing stage in 1991. Usually, emerging markets get their first shot in the arm after the transition by attracting light manufacturing foreign direct investment (FDI) because wages are so low. But in Russia’s case the so-called Dutch disease of a heavily overvalued currency, thanks to oil and gas exports, meant that the cost of labour was too high, adding to the pain of the Yeltsin-era chaos. When I arrived in Moscow in 1993, despite the fact the economy had collapsed about a year earlier, the city was insanely expensive.

Belatedly, the light manufacturing boom finally took off nearly 20 years after the collapse of central planning. The tasty bottom layer of bread in the Soviet sandwich is also part of the reason the Russian economy has been so robust in the last few years as it can’t be sanctioned. VAT is the biggest contributor to budget revues (40%), far more than oil & gas (25%). How do you sanction retail sales that happen entirely inside the Russian economy and rely on no imports? That’s the whole point of local light manufacturing: it only uses Russian inputs to keep things cheap.

And there is the rub. Not only did Ukraine blow up a retail distribution hub so it will be harder to get your groceries this week in Moscow, but it also blew up the stock of thousands of small entrepreneur businesses. This has wrecked not just their jobs, but many of these small businesses have sunk life savings into funding their production in an effort to grow. I have seen reports of one woman that had invested $25,000 into her children’s clothes production and all her capital was tied up in inventory – all stored in the Wildberries’ Elektrostal logistics centre. She will have to go back to scratch and start all over again, carrying some heavy debt.

That is why Zelenskiy’s decision to hit the warehouse is so painful. He has chosen a target that is in many ways more painful for the economy than blowing up the oil terminals at Primorsk and Ust-Luga last month, not because it will hurt the budget, but because it will hurt a big source of employment for regular people. It was a lot more painful than it first appears as it hit a part of economy that was flourishing.

It was only one warehouse, but that is the main feature of the escalating missile war: both sides are now hitting warehouses, supermarket, delivery trucks and transport hubs. For example, Russia has started to systematically target Ukraine’s petrol stations. There are hundreds of these, but Russia is producing millions of drones. It will slowly wear Ukraine’s ability to put fuel in cars in the same way that Ukraine has already caused a fuel crisis by targeting Russian oil refineries. Soon just getting your shopping could become hard too. And currently the plan is to continue the war for two more years.