Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses destroyed 15 million books, Russian officials say

Russian officials say Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses since mid-June have destroyed 15 million books, costing the industry 6 billion rubles, according to Digital Development Ministry official Vladimir Grigoriev. Eksmo's CEO suggested the true toll could reach 20 million books, and Ukraine has since expanded strikes to warehouses belonging to Ozon, Russia's second-largest marketplace.

In response, the industry is floating a temporary reduced VAT rate, a ban on clawing back VAT deductions for destroyed goods, and preferential lending to rebuild inventory. Damage to Wildberries and its sellers overall is estimated in the hundreds of billions of rubles.

Ukrainian publishers report their own losses from Russian strikes, more than 10 million books destroyed in recent months, including roughly 8 million copies lost at a single Kharkiv children's book publisher after an August 1 attack.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.