Ukraine hits St Petersburg oil depot before Putin visit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Ukraine’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicles will be deployed in St. He said he hit and set fire to an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, where the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum backed by President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskiy said on social media on Wednesday that the drones flew more than 1,000 km 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.
St. The economic forum in St. Petersburg begins on Wednesday and Putin is due to speak on Friday at what the Kremlin regards as a prestigious event, but major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
Saudi Arabia will send a special guest country and a large business delegation.
The attacks have been weeks of embarrassment for Putin, who was forced to cancel the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow over fears of Ukrainian drone strikes.
The attacks came a day after Russian forces launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, killing at least 22 civilians and wounding 138, as Moscow followed through on threats to step up regular bombardments.
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 aim to reduce Russia’s oil production, an important source of financing for Moscow, and disrupt its arms production.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in the port of St Petersburg and nearby ports.
Zelenskiy said that Ukraine’s unmanned aerial vehicle attacks at night also hit the Kronstadt naval base, the former base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, and a production facility producing weapons in Russia’s Tambov region, 600 kilometers away from Ukraine.
Russia’s 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, Russia fired 198 long-range UAVs into Ukraine and its air defenses neutralized 189, according to the Ukrainian air force.
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.
Russian shelling and drone strikes in southern Kherson killed an 86-year-old woman and injured five others, according to regional officials.
