MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ukraine hits St. Petersburg oil terminal with drones as Russia's economic forum opens

A column of black smoke rose over the port, in view of forum attendees, while Pulkovo airport suspended or diverted about thirty flights.

Ukraine launched a mass drone attack against several Russian regions early on Wednesday and struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, coinciding with the opening of the country's main economic forum. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 345 drones over 15 regions, including Moscow and Leningrad, where St. Petersburg is located.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the strike on the oil terminal —one of the largest hydrocarbon transshipment complexes in the Baltic Sea— and said the drones had flown more than 1,000 kilometers to reach the target. He added that “military targets” at the Kronstadt base had also been hit. St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov acknowledged damage to several facilities in the Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts and at the port of Kronstadt, with several people injured and no deaths. A column of black smoke rose over the port, in view of forum attendees, while Pulkovo airport suspended or diverted about thirty flights.

In the part of Ukraine occupied by Russia, at least seven civilians were killed and eleven injured when a drone struck a passenger bus on the Moscow–Simferopol route in the town of Yenakiyevo, according to the pro-Russian leader of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, who called the attack “inhuman.” The Russian government opened a criminal investigation. Ukraine, which like Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, did not comment on the incident. In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed in another drone attack, according to the local governor.

In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 22 drones heading for the capital were shot down, and the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports halted operations. In the Tambov region, south of Moscow, several apartments and a library were damaged, with no casualties. Ukraine also said it had hit the Russian corvette Boiki at the Kronstadt docks and released a video of the strike, though Russian authorities did not confirm any attack on their vessels.

The offensive came just 24 hours after a massive Russian bombardment —one of the largest of the war— against Kyiv and six other Ukrainian regions, in which Moscow used 73 missiles and more than 650 long-range drones and which killed at least 22 civilians. The strike on St. Petersburg coincided with the start of the International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which runs through Saturday and brings together some 20,000 guests from 130 countries. President Vladimir Putin will speak on Friday.