Ukraine drones hit Russian port, tankers and ships
Ukraine has launched a wave of drone attacks on targets across Russia, striking and setting fire to the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk and hitting a number of ships, as it steps up attacks on energy infrastructure and other targets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the attacks caused serious damage to the oil terminal port. They also hit an oil tanker, a small Russian Karakurt-class missile ship and a patrol boat in the Baltic Sea, he said on Telegram.
“Each such outcome further limits Russia’s war potential,” he wrote.
Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the northwestern region where the port is located, said more than 60 UAVs were shot down overnight. He said the fire in Primorsk, a major oil export center, was quickly extinguished and there was no oil spill following the attack.
Among numerous reports of other attacks elsewhere in Russia, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, said a drone crashed into a car and a 21-year-old man and his father died at the scene.
Primorsk, one of Russia’s largest export gateways, has the capacity to supply one million barrels of oil per day. It has been hit several times in recent months as US-brokered talks to end the Ukraine war have stalled.
Zelenskiy said early Sunday that Ukrainian forces also hit two shadow fleet tankers in the waters at the entrance to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
“These tankers were actively used to transport oil, they are no longer used,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
“Ukraine’s long-range capabilities at sea, in the air and on land will continue to be comprehensively developed.”
According to Russian television, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that global oil prices may increase further if Ukraine continues to attack Russia’s oil infrastructure.
“If additional volumes of oil are withdrawn from the market, prices will rise even further from current levels, which are already above US$120 ($A167) per barrel,” Peskov said. he said.
“This means that even with lower export volumes, our companies will make more money and the state will receive more revenue.”
A 77-year-old man died after a drone attack in a village, Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Saturday evening. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that four unmanned aerial vehicles heading towards the Russian capital were shot down.
Vasily Anokhin, governor of the western Smolensk region, said three people, including a child, were injured when a drone attacked an apartment block there on Sunday.
Russian troops are meanwhile advancing towards the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s top military official said on Saturday.
