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World leaders return to the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday...
Ukraine struck two more warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries on Wednesday, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Tatyana Kim, said, in the latest wave of drone attacks targeting Russia’s consumer infrastructure.
Kim said facilities in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk, both in southern Russia, were hit. Footage verified by Reuters showed a large plume of smoke rising above a warehouse in Krasnodar after the attack.
Wildberries, often compared with Amazon in Russia, is one of the country’s largest employers and among its biggest online marketplaces. Although the company is not publicly listed, shares in rival e-commerce platform Ozon fell 4% on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday amid concerns it could also become a target.
The attacks mark a further expansion of Ukraine’s campaign of long-range drone strikes inside Russia, aimed at disrupting Moscow’s war effort and bringing the impact of the conflict closer to Russian civilians.
Ukraine says it is targeting companies and infrastructure that support Russia’s military operations.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that the latest targets were logistics hubs involved in supplying Russian forces with drone components and other equipment.
The Kremlin has denied that Wildberries is involved in supplying military materials.
Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian logistics infrastructure, energy facilities and power networks throughout its full-scale invasion.
The latest attacks came days after a Ukrainian drone strike on Wildberries facilities on Saturday killed eight employees, sparked fires and disrupted the company’s operations.
"There are no words to describe all the feelings and emotions caused by the attacks on ordinary people, on our employees, on all of us who are simply doing our jobs," Kim said in a statement on Telegram following the latest strikes.
The full extent of the damage from Wednesday’s attacks remains unclear.
Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said 10 people were wounded in an attack on a storage complex, without naming Wildberries directly.
Authorities said a helicopter and more than 100 firefighters had been deployed to contain the warehouse fire.
Russia’s e-commerce lobby group AUREK has asked the government to defer tax payments for six months for companies affected by the attacks.
Wildberries began as an online retailer selling clothing from European catalogues before expanding into a broader marketplace for third-party sellers.
The company has not provided details of the scale of the damage.
Russia’s online retail market has grown rapidly in recent years. According to the Association of Internet Trade Companies, online sales rose by 28% in 2025 to 11.5 trillion roubles (US$147 billion).
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said sales of goods and services through digital platforms account for around 8.5% of Russia’s gross domestic product.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with the United States nor re-open the Strait as long as its conditions are not met, despite recent indirect talks in New York mediated by Qatar.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The 81st UN General Assembly continues in New York on Wednesday, with another day of high-level speeches and diplomatic meetings. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, global security and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
The 81st UN General Assembly has wrapped up its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplomatic meetings.
Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan will hold an urgent high-level meeting under a joint defence pact to discuss ways to support the kingdom amid attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. The meeting comes as Tehran seeks to distance itself from the rapid advance of its Houthi allies.
World leaders return to the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday for the fourth day of the high-level General Debate, with speeches and diplomatic meetings continuing throughout the day.
Finland and Sweden deployed fighter aircraft on Thursday after a group of Russian military planes was detected over the Gulf of Finland, the Finnish Air Force reported on Friday (25 September).
The Middle East arrived at the United Nations this week with the consequences of a war that is no longer contained to one front. From Israel and Iran to Syria and Yemen, leaders have used the General Assembly to set out competing positions on the situation in the region.
Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 25 September 2026, with five key developments from the third day of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Xi Jinping touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday evening to a welcome that was fairly unprecedented. President Donald Trump was there on the tarmac to greet him personally, which is something no sitting U.S. president had done for a visiting foreign leader in six decades.
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