Ukrainian drones set fire to a St. Petersburg oil terminal ahead of Putin visit
Ukrainian long-range drones will fly to St. Petersburg, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosts the annual international economic forum backed by President Vladimir Putin. He said he shot and set fire to an oil terminal in St. Petersburg.
Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media that the drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to hit the terminal. After the attack, clouds of black smoke rose over the city’s port.
Russian officials said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city’s infrastructure, without providing further details. St. Petersburg airport briefly suspended flights overnight due to the attack. Authorities also cut off mobile internet services.
Putin visited St. Petersburg on Friday, which the Kremlin sees as a decision. He will speak at the economic forum in St. Petersburg. prestige eventAlthough major Western investors and officials have since stayed away Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago. Saudi Arabia will send a special guest country and a large business delegation this year.
The strikes have been an embarrassment for Putin, who has had to cut his annual salary Victory Day parade Ukraine is in Moscow due to fears of drone attacks.
The attacks came a day after Russian forces launched a major offensive. drone and missile attack In Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, at least 22 civilians were killed and 138 injured as Moscow followed through on its threats. increases regular thresholds.
While little has changed on the front line as swarms of UAVs impede battlefield movement, both sides are increasingly seeking to gain the upper hand by launching long-range attacks. The war, which started after Russia invaded its neighbor, is now in its fifth year and has no end in sight.
Ukraine’s attacks are targeted Russia’s oil production is decreasingAn important source of financing for Moscow and disrupting arms production.
Ukraine has repeatedly visited St. It targeted oil facilities in the port of St. Petersburg and nearby ports.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s drone strikes overnight also hit the Kronstadt naval base, a former base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet, and a weapons manufacturing facility in Russia’s Tambov region, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 354 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Seven people were killed and 11 others were injured in a Ukrainian attack on a bus traveling from Moscow to Crimea in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin.
Two firefighters were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Smolensk region, according to regional governor Vasily Anokhin. He said two other firefighters and a local resident were injured.
Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian air force, Russia fired 198 long-range UAVs into Ukraine last night and its air defenses neutralized 189 of them.
Authorities in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine said that one civilian died and 15 civilians, including three children, were injured in Russia’s attacks in the last 24 hours.
Overnight Russian shelling and drone strikes in Southern Kherson killed an 86-year-old woman and injured five others, according to regional officials.
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