A Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil terminal in St. Petersburg on Saturday, according to Russian officials, as Kyiv continues its persistent bombardment of Russia’s energy infrastructure. This latest long-range attack adds to a series of near-daily strikes that have placed significant political pressure on the Kremlin and created a deepening fuel crisis as the invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov confirmed that the city’s Kirovsky district, located on the Baltic Sea, was targeted. He reported that Russian air defenses intercepted and downed 72 Ukrainian drones across the city and its surrounding region. This specific district had previously been struck in June, shortly before the city hosted Russia’s major St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized the operation as a component of his country’s “long-range sanctions” against Moscow. He stated that Ukrainian forces also successfully hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, situated just off the coast of St. Petersburg. In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy noted that the strikes targeted port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for the Russian war effort, alongside the military target at Kronstadt.
The Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, has also faced intense strikes, leading local authorities to halt gasoline sales to civilians. A separate Ukrainian attack in the region on Saturday resulted in one death and left two people injured, including a 10-year-old child, as reported by the Moscow-installed governor, Sergei Aksyonov. Additionally, local media reported that the border city of Belgorod was left almost entirely without power on Saturday following overnight drone strikes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed these attacks on energy facilities as “not critical,” maintaining that the war will proceed until his objectives are achieved. He has framed the strikes as a distraction from Ukraine’s battlefield losses. On Friday, Putin visited military headquarters to review reports on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka, which he described as a strategic victory for advancing toward Sloviansk and Kramarsk. While Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy claimed the city is under full Russian control, stating that units of the southern army group are completing the clearance of city blocks, rooting out small groups and individual Ukrainian fighters who may still be hiding in basements and ruins, President Zelenskyy strongly denied the report, calling it a fabrication and challenging Putin to visit the front line if the claim were true.
As the conflict continues to impact daily life within Russia, the strikes have challenged Putin’s narrative that the war remains distant from the average citizen. Meanwhile, the violence continues on both sides, with Ukrainian authorities reporting that a Russian attack on residential buildings in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia left eight people wounded, including two children, on Saturday.
