Drone threat in Russia's Yekaterinburg disrupts Wildberries operations and athletics championships

YEKATERINBURG, Russia July 25 - A drone threat prompted leading Russian online retailer Wildberries to evacuate its logistics hub on Saturday in the city of Yekaterinburg, where the national athletics championships were also briefly suspended.

Ukraine has struck Wildberries' warehouses in a string of attacks over the past week, broadening its long-range drone strategy to target a company central to Russia's consumer economy.

Wildberries said it had temporarily halted operations at the Yekaterinburg facility for security reasons, but that the site had not been damaged. Around four hours later, it said operations had resumed.

Earlier on Saturday, local authorities declared a drone alert over the wider Sverdlovsk region and said one attack had been repelled over Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city. Falling drone debris set fire to a parking lot, Governor Denis Pasler wrote on the Telegram app.

"Economic and infrastructure facilities were not damaged," he said, cautioning residents to remain vigilant as the drone threat persisted.

The alert also delayed the penultimate day of competition at the Russian Athletics Championships, which the city was hosting.

Athletes and spectators had to leave the open stadium and take shelter, according to a Reuters witness.

"This has never happened to me at competitions, but in everyday life it has. Sometimes, even during training, we'll have drone alerts and sirens going off. So, it's a normal atmosphere, so to speak," said runner Anastasia Fedonina from the southwestern Volgograd region.

Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russian infrastructure this year in a bid to undermine its war effort and pressure the Kremlin to make peace. It says it has targeted Wildberries on the grounds that it handles military supplies, which the Kremlin has denied.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian logistics infrastructure, as well as its energy system and power grid.

On Saturday, local authorities in Russia's southern Krasnodar region said open flames had been extinguished at a warehouse hit by drones on Wednesday. They did not name the facility, but a Wildberries warehouse in Krasnodar was attacked that day.

Together with smaller rivals, Wildberries and top competitor Ozon sell goods and services worth the equivalent of 8.5% of Russia's gross domestic product and employ 4 million people, or more than 5% of the country's workforce. REUTERS