Residents of St Petersburg were told to stay indoors for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Kyiv launched what Moscow called an “unprecedented” drone attack on the city and surrounding region. The assault came on the final day of Russia’s annual economic forum, where Vladimir Putin had hours earlier dismissed calls for peace talks.
More than 140 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, said governor Aleksandr Drozdenko, adding that a fire had broken out at an unspecified military facility and that residents had been evacuated. Buildings sustained “insignificant” damage, he said. St Petersburg’s governor, Alexander Beglov, urged residents to stay indoors – a directive not issued since the start of the war.
“Ukrainian drones forced St Petersburg residents indoors for first time since 2022, hitting naval base and oil depot.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had struck “the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt”, the main outpost of the Russian Baltic Fleet, located about 1,000km (620 miles) from the Ukrainian border. He said an oil depot 500km away in the southern Krasnodar region was also hit, describing the strikes as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” – a euphemism for attacks on Russian soil. “This is a just response to Russian attacks,” Zelensky said in a social media post.
Yevhen Karas, commander of the 413th regiment Raid of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, told the BBC: “We fly in Russia like it’s our own territory. Almost no resistance, not hard to reach a target.”
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence units had shot down or intercepted 339 Ukrainian drones over several regions since 07:00 local time on Saturday. The scale of the attack underlined Ukraine’s growing ability to strike deep inside Russia, even as Moscow hosted a flagship economic forum designed to attract foreign investment. The event drew thousands of guests from 130 countries, including a low-key US delegation – the first in many years.
The attack came a day after Putin told the forum there was no point in meeting Zelensky, who had called for direct talks to end the war. In an open letter to Putin on Thursday, Zelensky proposed a ceasefire and face-to-face negotiation.
On the other side of the conflict, Ukraine accused Russia of attacking two civilian search-and-rescue vessels on a “humanitarian mission” in the Black Sea. “Unfortunately, there are injured,” said Ukrainian Territorial Development Minister Oleksiy Kuleba. Russia’s military has not publicly commented on the incident.