Russian Strikes Destroy Epicentr K’s Last Major Logistics Hub

Epicentr K has lost its last remaining major logistics hub after Russian forces hit the distribution centre in Khmelnytskyi 10 times, destroying some 85% of the stored goods and igniting five major fires, according to an official company statement. The devastating blow capped a brutal week of relentless shelling that also hit the chain’s shopping centres in Chernihiv and Dnipro.

While no employees were injured in the Khmelnytskyi attack, emergency response efforts were hindered by approximately 30 Russian drones operating overhead. The company’s Facebook post stated that with this latest destruction, Epicentr K has lost its last major operational warehouse complex, as its primary distribution hubs near Kyiv were destroyed earlier in the war.

The loss directly affects 520 employees at the site, many of whom had previously been relocated to safer areas after earlier Russian strikes destroyed or damaged company facilities in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa. In the same post, the company wrote that the cascading destruction of supply chains and retail infrastructure poses a serious risk to maintaining jobs and paying the salaries of thousands of workers.

The destruction of the logistics centre followed a series of attacks on the retailer’s stores throughout the week. Earlier, Russian forces virtually destroyed a new shopping centre in Chernihiv - a facility the company had painstakingly rebuilt, larger and more modern, after it was completely destroyed in 2022, according to press secretary Yulia Chundovets’s Facebook post. Shortly afterwards, a strike hit one of the chain’s oldest shopping centres in Dnipro, a site that had been in operation for almost 20 years and was of particular importance to local residents, she wrote.

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Reflecting on the unprecedented toll of recent weeks, Chudnovets wrote on Facebook that “the past two months have brought the company more grief, losses, and terrifying news than all the preceding years of the full-scale war,” adding that “it feels as though the relentless destruction has no end, and honestly we are running out of strength”

Founded by Oleksandr and Halyna Hereha in 2003 with the opening of their first home improvement store in Kyiv, Epicentr K has grown into a major national retail network. The chain currently operates 72 shopping centers across Ukraine, with a total retail area of more than 2 million square meters (21.5 million square feet) and around 38,000 employees. Approximately 4,600 of its employees are currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to financial statements registered in YouControl, the company generated Hr. 81.2 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2025.