It was two days before the start of school, and David Zelensky, 16, was earning final summer cash at an e-commerce warehouse in the Russian city of Belgorod. The oldest of nine children, David had landed the job a few weeks earlier at the online retailer Ozon, an upgrade from his former gig delivering food. He settled in for an evening shift on Aug. 30 that would bring him closer to his dream of buying a motorcycle.
Then came the Ukrainian missiles. City air raid sirens wailed, followed by an explosion from what seemed to be the interception of a rocket. As workers ran toward a shelter, a missile slammed into the building. The lights went dark as walls and metal shelves crashed down on students working nearby, and a fireball engulfed part of the facility. David, who communicated with fellow workers by writing on a phone because he was deaf and unable to speak, was killed. A 21-year-old college student also died, and a 16-year-old boy was critically injured.
The New York Times interviewed more than a dozen e-commerce workers at warehouses across Russia. They described incoming drones, hours-long middle-of-the-night evacuations and fears of injury or death as the new norm at work. Some spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being fired. The events in Belgorod illustrate the danger facing civilian employees at Russia's two e-commerce giants, Ozon and Wildberries, as Ukraine has turned the companies into a new front in the war.
Ukraine has argued the warehouses are legitimate targets because the retailers sell components used to repair Russian military drones and protective equipment for soldiers. Russian officials and Wildberries head Tatyana Kim have dismissed this rationale, calling the strikes "terrorist attacks" against civilians. Wildberries and Ozon did not respond to requests for comment. According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, two months of strikes on the companies' facilities killed 12 people and injured 135 through Sept. 11. By comparison, a single attack on a shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih on Aug. 21 killed 16 people and injured 136.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing