Wildberries bans employees from bringing camera phones to warehouses following Ukrainian drone attacks – media

Employees of the Russian company Wildberries have been banned from bringing camera-equipped mobile phones into the company's warehouses starting August 3, following the circulation of footage showing the aftermath of Ukrainian drone strikes on the online retailer's facilities.

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Mediazona, citing Russian media outlets.

It is noted that company employees received a message banning them from bringing smartphones into the warehouses. At the same time, they are still allowed to use feature phones without cameras.

Wildberries said the restriction was introduced to prohibit the photographing and filming of drone strikes. The company stated that after employees were previously allowed to bring smartphones into warehouse facilities, there were cases of staff recording "UAVs and the events taking place" and distributing the footage.

The company claims that filming drone attacks and their aftermath poses a threat to employee safety and could reveal the positions of Russian air defense systems. It also warned that such actions could result in administrative or criminal liability.

Previously, Wildberries had restricted employees from bringing personal belongings into work areas. However, after Ukrainian strikes began targeting the company's logistics centers, the policy was partially relaxed, allowing workers to carry certain personal items, including identification documents and car and house keys.

As Ukrinform previously reported, during the night of August 3, following a drone attack, a fire broke out at Belgorod State Technological University (BSTU), where unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems had reportedly been developed. The same night, warehouses belonging to the Russian online marketplace Wildberries caught fire in Russia's Vladimir region.