Ukraine targets St. Petersburg again after Putin rejects Zelenskyy’s offer for direct talks
St. Petersburg residents told to stay home after large-scale protest Ukraine drone attack The attack on Russia’s second largest city on Saturday morning underlined Kiev’s increasing ability to strike deep into Russia.
The attack took place a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected an offer to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart.
St. While St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov advised citizens not to go out and warned about possible disruptions in mobile internet service, regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said that 141 unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its air defense shot down 376 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote to
Although no casualties were immediately reported, St. The renewed attack on St. Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Putin’s efforts to portray the conflict as a distant event that does not affect daily life in Russia.
Ukrainian drone attack Putin’s annual investment showcase, St. They set fire to an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base on Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Speaking at the forum, Putin said on Thursday that Russia would strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses against recent drone attacks. reached deep into his country and his hometown, St. It cast a shadow over the event in St. Petersburg.
Putin on Friday rejected an offer with Zelenskyy He said he requested a face-to-face meeting about the 4-year-old conflict and saw “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter is Zelenskyy’s first public message directly to Putin since Russia Sent troops to Ukraine in 2022It contained broad criticism of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, as well as some jibes about his age.
Responding to Putin’s rejection of the proposed meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that things “will only get worse for Russia.”
“Failures will be more humiliating,” he wrote in his article to
While the front line barely moves as swarms of UAVs impede progress, both sides attempt to gain the upper hand by launching long-range attacks.
Regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said that one person was killed and three people were injured as a result of Russian forces hitting three regions about 30 times with unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery in the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine on Saturday.
Seven people sought medical attention after a Russian drone strike started a fire in a parking lot in Zaporizhia, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.
Russia targeted Ukraine with 272 attack aircraft overnight and its air defenses shot down 249 of them, Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday.
