Terror for businesses: Russia hits Epicentr, Nova Poshta and grocery stores for two days straight
Photo: Russia is destroying Ukrainian businesses (t.me/ivan_fedorov_zp)
Russian attacks on August 27 and 28 struck Ukrainian businesses. Among those affected were Epicentr, Nova Poshta, Roshen, Comfy, Fora, Avrora, Kolo, as well as bookstores and publishing houses.
RBC-Ukraine gathered information on which Ukrainian companies were affected by the attacks over the two days.
Key points:
- August 27 — Epicentr in Kharkiv: a shopping center was attacked. That same day, a warehouse belonging to Budynok Ihrashok was destroyed, while the distribution centers of Fora and Comfy were also attacked.
- Roshen: a warehouse in Chubynske, Kyiv region, was destroyed. A warehouse of the Kolo chain, owned by Varus, was also attacked.
- Avrora: the distribution center of the multimarket chain in the Kyiv region was destroyed.
- August 28 — Nova Poshta: sorting centers in Sumy and Sviatopetrivske were destroyed.
- Epicentr and Khortytsia in Zaporizhzhia: the last Epicentr store operating in the city is on fire, while according to media reports, the Khortytsia plant was completely destroyed and cannot be restored.
- Book publishers: a warehouse containing books by Readeat, Book UA, Vivat and other Ukrainian publishers was destroyed.
Which businesses were hit over the two days
Retail chains and shopping centers
Epicentr (Kharkiv). In the afternoon of August 27, the Russians struck a shopping center in the Osnovianskyi district with a Geran-4 Seeker UAV equipped with a mesh modem, monitoring the strike in real time. The building was damaged, and a fire broke out over an area of 300 square meters. A 40-year-old man was killed, and five more people were injured.
Epicentr (Zaporizhzhia). On August 28, an enemy drone halted the operation of the chain's last operating hypermarket in the city. A fire broke out over an area of about 2,000 square meters, and four people were injured.
Photo: Zaporizhzhia regional military administration
Avrora. The distribution center of the multimarket chain in the Kyiv region was completely destroyed. Employees were not injured, and damage assessment is underway.
Fora. A warehouse in the Kyiv region that the chain began using on August 23 was hit. This is already the third attack on the company's logistics operations in a month. There were no casualties, and the retailer is restructuring its logistics operations while stores continue to operate normally.
Kolo. A warehouse of the chain, which belongs to Varus, was damaged in the Kyiv region. No employees were injured. The chain's stores are operating normally, although temporary delays in the delivery of certain goods are possible.
Comfy. A Russian drone deliberately destroyed the company's distribution center in the Kyiv region. Employees were not injured. Stores, online channels and the contact center continue to operate.
Food production and warehouses
Roshen. A warehouse for finished confectionery products in the village of Chubynske, Boryspil district, was destroyed. This is the second attack on the company's facilities since the beginning of the full-scale invasion (in February, a warehouse in Yahotyn was destroyed). The company is using alternative warehouses, and temporary supply disruptions are possible.
Photo: Roshen
Khortytsia (Zaporizhzhia). On August 28, the liquor and spirits plant of Global Spirits was completely destroyed as a result of four hits, the company told NV. The facility burned for more than three hours and cannot be restored. Some 3-4 million bottles of products (Khortytsia, Morosha, Pervak and other brands) with excise taxes already paid were destroyed or damaged.
Bakery Food Investment (BFI). The storage facilities of the manufacturer of deep-frozen bakery products were damaged (the third attack on BFI facilities). More than 800 tons of finished products were lost.
Budynok Ihrashok. The distribution center from which goods were shipped across Ukraine every day was destroyed. The staff was not injured. Offline stores and the website are operating, and customers will be refunded for canceled paid orders.
Postal logistics, bookstores and publishers
Nova Poshta. On the night of August 28, the chain's sorting centers were destroyed. In Sumy, the enemy dropped four guided aerial bombs on the terminal, damaging three trucks, while in Sviatopetrivske, Kyiv region, an enemy drone destroyed a sorting depot. The company promises to fully compensate the declared value of damaged shipments.
Photo: Russia is destroying Ukrainian businesses
Vivat, Readeat, Book.ua. The Vivat publishing house's warehouse was located at the destroyed Nova Poshta terminal in Sviatopetrivske (the place from which thousands of books were distributed across Ukraine every day). The fire destroyed products belonging to Vivat and the partner bookstores Readeat and Book.ua.
Photo: Russia is destroying Ukrainian businesses
Vivat continues to operate: its offline bookstores are open, and e-books and audiobooks are available.
Readeat has temporarily suspended order shipments to assess the damage.
What could the scale of the losses be?
According to financial analyst Andrii Shevchyshyn, Kyiv could be losing between $7 million and $14 million per day due to business downtime during prolonged air raid alerts.
The expert noted that during air raid alerts, businesses that are forced to completely halt operations suffer the most:
- Large retail chains and businesses in shopping centers;
- Manufacturing companies;
- Logistics and distribution centers;
- Transportation;
- Construction companies;
- Services that depend on the operation of large facilities.
Shevchyshyn noted that on August 27, there were 13 air raid alerts in the capital with a total duration of 14 hours and 46 minutes — about 60% of the working day.
Shevchyshyn took into account losses from halted retail, production, logistics, transportation, and construction, not including direct losses from strikes.
Under the baseline calculation, losses amount to about $10 million per working day, and taking into account a possible margin of error, $7 million to $14 million.
"If the alert continues for seven days without interruption, the figure will not grow linearly — but with a cumulative effect on weekdays and a baseline impact on weekends, and it will already be $50 million to $110 million," the analyst said.
He stressed that direct and indirect losses from Russian strikes — the destruction of warehouses, goods and production facilities — are on a different scale and require a separate assessment.
