Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg oil terminal before the Russian city hosts economic forum

Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum that is a banner event for President Vladimir Putin.

The drones flew more than 600 miles to hit the terminal, Zelenskyy said on social media. Clouds of black smoke rose over the city’s port after the attack. St. Petersburg is Russia’s second-largest city and is where Putin was born.

Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city’s infrastructure, without providing further details. The airport of St. Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities also cut off mobile internet services.

With the front line changing little as swarms of drones hinder battlefield movement, both sides have sought an edge by increasingly launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.

Ukraine’s drone successes embarrass Putin

The latest strikes are an embarrassment for Putin, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow because of fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Putin is set to speak on Friday at the economic forum in St. Petersburg that the Kremlin views as a prestige event. For decades, the gathering has been Russia’s leading event for attracting foreign capital. It is sometimes called Russia’s Davos, likening it to the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland.

Major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Saudi Arabia is a special guest country this year and is due to send a large business delegation.

The strikes came a day after Russian forces launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing 23 civilians and wounding 151 other people, as Moscow followed through with its threat of escalating its regular barrages.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s deep strikes have already taken on a “systematic” character.

Ukraine needs more air defense help

Ukraine is short of American-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of U.S. stocks depleted by the Iran war, leaving it vulnerable to Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday expressed frustration with his own government’s officials, saying there’s an agreement “at the highest political level” for the purchase of Patriot systems, but implementation is being held up by financial, legal and technical considerations.

“The wait has taken too long,” he said on social media, demanding that officials unblock the purchase or there will be “serious personnel decisions.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials that likely will cover air defense needs.

Ukraine’s own long-range attacks are aimed at diminishing Russia’s oil production, which is a key source of funding for Moscow, and disrupting weapon production.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in St. Petersburg and nearby ports.

Ukraine also strikes a Russian naval

Other Ukrainian drone attacks overnight set fire to the Russian guided-missile corvette Boikiy, which was in dry dock at the Kronstadt naval base, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Kronstadt is an old base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet located west of St. Petersburg.

Drones also hit a Russian manufacturing plant involved in weapon production in the Tambov region, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 354 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a Ukrainian strike hit a bus that was traveling from Moscow to the Crimean Peninsula, killing seven people and wounding 11 others, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.

In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin. He said that two other firefighters and a local resident were wounded.

Meanwhile, Russia fired 198 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according to Ukraine’s air force, with air defenses neutralizing 189.

Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said that over the previous 24 hours, one civilian was killed and 15 more were wounded, including three children, by Russian strikes.

In the southern Kherson, Russian overnight shelling and drone strikes killed an 86-year-old woman and wounded five other people, according to regional authorities.