Ozon shares plunge over 28% on Moscow Exchange after Ukrainian drone strikes on warehouses

Shares of Russian e-commerce company Ozon dropped sharply on the Moscow Exchange on Tuesday following the latest in a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on the company's warehouses.

After the main trading session opened, Ozon shares fell 12.7% to 2,600 rubles each. The decline deepened throughout the morning, and by around 10:30 a.m. Moscow time, the stock had dropped 28.5% to 2,129 rubles.

The exchange's benchmark index also slipped at the start of trading, falling to 2,092 points — a 2% decrease from the previous session's close.

Third consecutive day of strikes

Ukrainian forces have now struck Ozon warehouses across several Russian regions for three days in a row. Ozon shares are among the so-called blue chips — the largest and most liquid securities on the exchange — that are used to calculate Russia's benchmark stock index.

Ozon is one of Russia's biggest online retailers and, unlike some competitors, is a publicly traded company.

Similar attacks on Wildberries

Ukraine's military previously carried out a series of strikes on warehouses belonging to Wildberries, another major Russian online marketplace. Unlike Ozon, however, Wildberries is not publicly traded on the exchange.