Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, plans to acquire 270,000 square metres of warehouse space in Kazakhstan, the country's trade minister has said. The announcement comes as Ukrainian drone strikes have damaged around 10 per cent of the company's warehouse capacity in Russia.
Construction of the logistics hubs is due to begin in the first quarter of 2027, Kazakhstan's Trade Minister Arman Shakkaliyev said.
He said the facilities formed part of Wildberries' long-term expansion strategy. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade added that it had not received any official requests from Wildberries for additional warehouse capacity in the country.
Shakkaliyev told Kazakhstan news website Tengrinews that the new warehouse space would be built in the capital, Astana, and the country's largest city, Almaty.
He said Wildberries currently uses 46,000 square metres of leased logistics storage space in Kazakhstan.
"In the first quarter of next year, approximately 170,000 square meters will be built in Almaty. The company is carrying out construction and installation work. In Astana, approximately 100,000 square meters will be built.
"These are plans that were announced in advance. This work has been underway for several years," the minister said.
Ukraine has continued its strikes on Wildberries infrastructure this week, with one of the company's warehouses in Tula, south of Moscow, reportedly catching fire following a drone strike on Wednesday.
Warehouses belonging to the online retailer were also hit near St. Petersburg, in the Tver region north of Moscow, and in the city of Chekhov in the Moscow region on Tuesday.
Wildberries has said that more than a dozen of its sites have been attacked since 18 July.
The retailer has not provided an estimate of the financial losses resulting from the attacks. Founder and CEO Tatyana Kim has described the strikes as "acts of terrorism."
Ukraine has said it targeted Wildberries because it sells items that can be used for military purposes, including bulletproof vests and fibre-optic cable for drones.
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