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Russia's top online retailer hit by in new drone strike

Ukraine says Wildberries has a role in supporting Russia's military, which Moscow denies. (AP PHOTO)

A warehouse of leading ‌Russian online retailer Wildberries near St Petersburg ‌has caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack, Governor Alexander Drozdenko says.

Three people were injured, he said on Friday.

Wildberries said that operations at two of its logistics sites in the Leningrad region had been halted.

It also said staff at ‌its warehouse ‌in ⁠Crimea had been evacuated.

A Reuters video from the ​scene of the attack showed two giant plumes of black smoke rising over the area.

Five Wildberries warehouses, accounting for about 10 per cent of the company's logistics capacity, have been attacked since ⁠July 18.

Wildberries said that ‌none ​of its stuff had been hurt in the latest attack. ​

Eight people ‌were killed in the July 18 attacks on logistics hubs ​in the cities of Kotovsk and Elektrostal.

Kyiv said the company is part of infrastructure that supports the ​Russian ​military.

Russia denies ​that the company, which is at ‌the centre of the country's consumer economy, handles any military supplies.

Together with smaller rivals, Wildberries and top competitor Ozon sell goods and services worth the equivalent of 8.5 per cent of Russia's ​gross domestic product and employ four million people, ​or more than five per cent ⁠of the country's workforce.

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