A column of black smoke rose over St Petersburg’s oil terminal early on Saturday morning after a Ukrainian drone found its target – the latest blow in Kyiv’s campaign to cripple Russia’s energy revenues. President Volodymyr Zelensky later released a video showing a drone flying towards the facility and the towering plume that followed, calling the strike part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Moscow.
The attack, which Zelensky said hit targets about 850km (528 miles) from Ukraine’s border, also struck a major Russian naval base in Kronstadt and port infrastructure in Vysotsk, about 170km north-west of St Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. Ukraine’s military described the terminal as “one of the largest” in Russia, capable of producing 12.5 million tonnes of petroleum products per year.
“Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg's oil terminal and a naval base, part of Kyiv's long-range sanctions campaign.”
St Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov said the city was under a “large-scale” drone attack, admitting the oil terminal was hit. He reported no casualties and said 72 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the city and the wider Leningrad region. He urged residents to stay indoors and warned that mobile internet services might be disrupted. Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the surrounding Leningrad region, said a drone struck the area of Vysotsk port, which handles oil, grain, coal and liquefied natural gas. He gave no information on the impact but said there was minor damage in several settlements.
Zelensky said: “Ukraine’s defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war, and also hit Kronstadt, an important military target.” Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the strikes on energy facilities as “not critical”, despite making a rare admission of fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian attacks just five days ago. On Saturday, he signed into law a bill aimed at boosting supplies to the domestic fuel market.
Ukraine has intensified long-range drone strikes on Russia’s critical energy infrastructure this year, inflicting heavy damage on refineries and causing petrol shortages across the country’s 11 time zones. Kyiv says nearly 43% of Russia’s oil refining capacity has been “disabled” as a result – a claim not independently verified. Ukraine argues that Russian oil and gas facilities are legitimate targets because Moscow relies on fossil fuel exports to fund its war.
In a separate development, Zelensky denied Russian claims that the key eastern city of Kostiantynivka (also spelled Kostyantynivka) had been captured. Ukraine’s military spokesman Maj Andriy Kovalyov told the BBC that “Kostyantynivka remains under the control of the Defence Forces of Ukraine”. The denial came as Putin’s forces continued their grinding advance in the Donetsk region, and as Ukraine’s drone campaign sought to force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.