Russia’s St Petersburg under drone attack from Ukraine
MOSCOW — Russia’s second city of St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region came under a large Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Saturday, with a local port and oil infrastructure struck, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said, reports BritPanorama.
St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov stated the city of six million had been subjected to a “large-scale” drone attack, with the city’s oil terminal among the sites targeted. He noted there were no casualties and that the aftermath of the attack had been managed.
Leningrad region Governor Alexander Drozdenko detailed that drones had struck the port of Vysotsk, located about 105 miles northwest of St Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. This port is significant for handling oil, grain, coal, and liquefied natural gas.
Drozdenko further reported that 72 drones had been shot down over the Leningrad region during the assault.
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated, “Ukraine’s defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war, and also hit Kronstadt, an important military target more than 850 km (528 miles) from Ukraine’s state border.”
There has been no information from Russia regarding a strike on Kronstadt, which is a major naval base near St Petersburg that Ukraine targeted in a previous attack on the city in June.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure this year, contributing to fuel shortages in various parts of Russia.
In other developments, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, along with the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, reported that drone strikes had resulted in one fatality in each region, with several others wounded.
Further south of St Petersburg, the governor of Pskov region indicated that more than 30 drones had been shot down overnight, reporting only minor damage and injuries, including to a factory in the town of Velikiye Luki.
