Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses destroy 15 million books, Russian officials say
Russian officials say Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses have destroyed 15 million books and cost the book industry 6 billion rubles. The industry is now seeking government support measures.
Vladimir Grigoriev, head of the Periodicals and Book Industry Support Department at Russia's Digital Development Ministry, said Ukrainian drone strikes on warehouses belonging to the online retailer Wildberries have cost the country's book industry 6 billion rubles, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant. He said fires at the warehouses destroyed 15 million books.
Eksmo CEO Yevgeny Kapyev suggested the true toll could be as high as 20 million lost books.
Industry seeks relief
Grigoriev said officials are weighing a temporary cut in the value-added tax rate for the book industry to 5% for one year. Eksmo has separately proposed lowering VAT on printed goods, banning the reclaiming of previously deducted VAT on destroyed stock, and allowing publishers to write off the full value of destroyed goods as a business expense. The publisher has also called for preferential lending terms to help rebuild working capital.
Ukraine has been targeting Wildberries' largest warehouses across Russia since mid-June, with damage to the marketplace and its sellers already estimated in the hundreds of billions of rubles. Since late August, Ukraine has expanded strikes to warehouses belonging to Ozon, Russia's second-largest online marketplace, beginning with a logistics center in the Samara region before hitting facilities in other regions.
Russia has likewise been striking warehouses in Ukraine. Ukrainian publishers say Russian attacks have destroyed more than 10 million books in recent months, including roughly 8 million copies lost by a single children's book publisher in Kharkiv after an August 1 fire caused by an attack.
