RUSSIAN postmen will be armed with anti-drone weapons after a spate of Ukrainian attacks on Putin’s Amazon-style empire.
Dozens of Wildberries and Ozon warehouses have been battered by mass drone blasts from Ukraine – leaving the tyrant’s struggling economy in tatters.
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Dramatic photos show raging red flames erupting inside warehouses as monstrous clouds of smoke billow through the skies.
Several depots have been burned to the ground after Ukraine battered the e-commerce giants for several days across August.
Now the rattled dictator is resorting to desperate measures – and equiping his postmen with anti-drone weapons.
Parcel boys in Russia are already bristling with pistols and stun guns.
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But now the postal workers may be expected to shoot down explosive drones and tanks from Ukraine, according to The Telegraph.
In a decree signed off by Russia‘s prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, postmen will be given “special technical means” to counter “unmanned aerial, underwater and surface vessels and vehicles, autonomous land vehicles and other automated unmanned systems”.
It is unclear precisely what the “technical means” will be.
It comes after fiery blitzes on warehouses belonging to e-commerce platforms Ozon and Wildberries inflicted more than £7bn in damage.
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At least 12 Wildberries hubs have been sent up in flames since late July – plunging one of Russia‘s most crucial businesses into disarray.
One expert told The Sun that the strikes were “emboldening the Ukrainians” and “a massive headache” for Putin.
Ex-British intelligence officer Philip Ingram said: “Ukraine’s strategy is evolving, the hits on Wildberries and the general oil and gas infrastructure are causing a financial burden to Moscow.
“It is bringing the war home to the average Russian.
“The civilian population is now fearing the government can’t protect them anymore.
There are a total of 40 mega Wildberries warehouses sprawling across Russia with another 200 facilities dotted across the country.
The Russian Amazon dupes have scrambled to secure their assets – with anti-drone spending surging by more than six times last year’s amount.
New rules allowed private companies to purchase gun turrents, radar and other military systems in a frantic attempt to deter attacks.
How Ukraine’s cunning tactic to blitz ‘Russia’s Amazon’ could deal fatal blow to Putin’s regime
By Harvey Geh, Foreign News Reporter
AFTER weeks of blitzing Vladimir Putin’s oil depots with state-of-the-art drones, Ukraine has now shifted its crosshairs to Russia’s Amazon.
In another bid to bring the tyrant to the negotiating table, Kyiv is putting its foot on Moscow’s neck with a series of strikes crippling the regime’s biggest e-commerce platform.
The despot could be staring down the barrel of a mutiny by the time key elections come round in September if Ukraine keeps its foot on the gas and Moscow continues to struggle against aerial assaults, experts say.
Russia expert Mark Galeotti told The Sun: “The Ukrainians have been extraordinarily and unexpectedly successful, and this is slowly grinding away… at support for the regime bit by bit.”
And John Foreman CBE, former UK Defence Attaché to Russia, said: “The strategy… is to inflict pain inside Russia, inside the occupied territories, inside Crimea, to bring home the cost of war back to Russians.”
Russia analyst Natia Seskuria told us: “It’s a very smart strategy from the Ukrainian side… it will have a significant impact on Russian households.”
She added: “This is something new and something that we haven’t seen before, but I think the message is still the same in terms of making the war extremely costly for Russia.”
Ever eager to fuel his war machine, Putin has also threatened to seize any depots which fail to prepare against Ukrainian attacks.
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Thousands of national retailers regularly use Wildberries to buy and store their goods as well as using the brand’s delivery service.
Even Russian troops rely on the supplier for helmets and armour before they head to the bloody battlefield.