Ukraine launched a major drone attack early Saturday on Russian oil refineries and military facilities, including some in the St. Petersburg region where the final day of an international forum hosted by the Kremlin is being held.
This is the second time in recent days that a large number of Ukrainian drones have targeted the Leningrad region. Russia announced a loss of around 60 people in the region early Wednesday, hours before the start of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), often referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s version of Davos.
“Last night, our drones flew a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region, the enemy naval arsenal and the Kronstadt base,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
“Saint Petersburg has suffered a major attack by military drones,” the city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, posted on Telegram on Saturday, announcing that three people were injured.
“I ask people in St. Petersburg to stay at home and not go out on the streets. Mobile internet services may be disrupted,” Beglov said on Telegram.
President Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions extended to about 500 kilometers in the Krasnodar region and hit oil depots,” and posted a video of large fires in both Krasnodar and Kronstadt.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) claimed that “at least three tanks containing petroleum products were engulfed in flames.” “This oil depot is an important rear regional base for fuel storage and supply to Russian forces in the south and east.”
Russian emergency services confirmed that a fire broke out at an oil depot. Dozens of people were evacuated and more than 50 fire extinguishing equipment were deployed to fight the fire.
Kiev has stepped up attacks on Russia’s key oil infrastructure in recent months, launching hundreds of long-range drones, straining fuel supplies and further increasing the economic burden on residents.
Around St. Petersburg, “a total of 141 unmanned aircraft were shot down over the Leningrad region,” regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said, reporting debris in several areas.
Drozdenko said firefighting efforts were continuing in the village of Bolshaya Izhora, where more than 600 people had been evacuated. CNN captured geolocated video of thick smoke billowing from a location in the area where a Russian naval arsenal is located.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces announced on Saturday that several drones had reached their target at the Russian Baltic Fleet’s Kronstadt naval base near St. Petersburg, the main city in the Leningrad region.
“A fire was reported to have broken out on base grounds,” the military said in a statement.
The town of Kronstadt, which is home to several Russian naval facilities, was closed to traffic for several hours on Saturday, state news agency Tass said.
Both countries regularly launch hundreds of drones into each other’s territory at night, and Ukraine’s long-range drones have become increasingly effective at targeting Russian energy facilities, military bases, and factories.
Ukraine’s military said Russia launched 272 drones between Friday and Saturday, of which 249 were intercepted. According to the Air Force, there were 11 impacts.
