Russian book publishers — both major and independent — are suspending sales on Wildberries as Ukrainian drone attacks continue to hit the marketplace’s warehouses, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, citing sources at publishing houses. The newspaper said it was aware of seven such cases.
Boomkniga, a publisher of comic books and graphic novels, announced on its Telegram channel as early as July 30 that it was suspending deliveries to marketplaces. “The best way to buy our books is to go to an independent bookstore (we stopped supplying Bukvoed–Chitai-Gorod long ago) or place an order on our website,” the post said.
The publisher Alpaca said it had changed how it works with Wildberries and that pre-orders on the marketplace “shouldn’t be expected in the foreseeable future.” Kion Stroki, a service run by MTS, said it has recorded isolated cases of independent publishers temporarily halting work with marketplaces, mostly while reviewing storage and promotion terms. Some publishers, it said, are redirecting sales to their own warehouses and “alternative distribution channels.”
Eksmo, another publisher, said it was still tallying the damage from the strikes on Wildberries’ warehouses. Eksmo CEO Yevgeny Kapyev said the company is shifting to deliveries from its own warehouses, a move that is driving up costs.
A 2025 report by the Digital Development Ministry found that the book industry’s turnover grew 11% year-over-year. Marketplaces, along with e-books, remain the “main drivers of the book market,” the report said, while sales at bookstores continue to decline because of “marketplace price dumping.”
Ukraine has regularly struck logistics centers belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest marketplace, since mid-July. Wildberries’ direct losses from the attacks could exceed 100 billion rubles, according to estimates by sources cited by The Bell, an independent Russian media outlet.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.