Damage at the Adygeisk facility
I find the destruction of the Ozon logistics hub in Adygeisk to be a massive disruption. Ukrainian drones hit the facility in the early morning on Wednesday and set fire to the first section of the 10,000 square metre complex. One employee told OC Media that the strike happened four minutes after the staff evacuated, and he described the moment of impact as a sudden bang followed by cracking and grinding noises. He also noted that something began hissing, which he thought was chemicals stored in the warehouse, and he recalled spending 15 minutes outside during a previous evacuation last night. He believed the strike was a missile because an internal data collection terminal issued a missile threat alert. While Adygean Head Murat Kumpilov said all employees evacuated in time and no casualties occurred, the damage extends to the village of Petrov in the Teuchezhsky district where drone debris hit a gas pipe and a private house. I also note that drone debris hit near the aul of Takhtamukai, though Kumpilov said there was no damage or casualties there. The road was closed to heavy goods vehicles in the morning following the strike. This incident follows a previous drone attack on 24 August that sparked a fire at an Ozon logistics centre in the settlement of Enem. The facility in Adygeisk is a vital hub for the Krasnodar cluster and is the only Ozon site in southern Russia that processes jewellery, and the second section contains the main conveyor belt.
Operational and financial consequences
Ozon stopped accepting new deliveries at the Adygeisk site and removed damaged goods from its online catalogue to manage the fire. The company will cancel some orders and redirect the rest of the shipments. This facility, which opened in 2023, employs 1,500 people and manages deliveries to Krasnodar, Sochi, Maikop, and Vladikavkaz. I see a serious problem for merchants because the insurance programme covering goods against large-scale damage closed on 13 October. This timing means entrepreneurs whose goods were in the warehouse will not receive compensation. On 28 October, Ozon estimated that drone attacks on 11 of its logistics centres across Russia caused more than ₽30 billion or $36 million in damage. The two largest Russian marketplaces, Ozon and Wildberries, account for approximately 8.5% of Russia’s GDP. The attack occurred alongside a large-scale overnight drone assault where Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 709 drones over 15 regions of the country, as well as over the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. This follows recent strikes on facilities like the Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk. One employee at the warehouse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he took the day off because the warehouse is still largely intact and he fears another attack tonight. Workers will still attend their shifts today, but they cannot work in the first warehouse.
