In just three weeks, Vasily Klimov's online shopping pick-up point in Moscow has gone from a thriving small business to a loss-making operation that he is now urgently trying to sell.

Klimov runs one of 98,000 pick-up points in Russia and neighbouring countries where ​customers collect goods ordered through Wildberries, the country's leading e-commerce retailer, Reuters reported.

But since July 18, when Ukraine began targeting Wildberries warehouses across Russia in a wave of near-nightly drone attacks, his ‌business has taken a massive dive.

Attacks on around 20 of the company's sites have sparked major fires, destroyed entire warehouses of stock, and disrupted its vast logistics network across the world's largest country.

At least 1.18 million square metres of storage space - more than a fifth of the company's capacity - has been damaged or destroyed.

The disruption is sending shockwaves through Russia's retail sector, affecting not only franchise operators like Klimov but also tens of thousands of small businesses that rely on Wildberries to ​sell their products online.

"Sales have dropped by about 50% over the past month, and that is because there are almost no deliveries," said Klimov, whose outlet operates under a Wildberries franchise agreement.

"The last ​month has been entirely loss-making."