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A fire broke out at the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal on Wednesday following a drone attack, according to Russian officials, as Ukraine said it had targeted key infrastructure sites in Russia's second-largest city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said drones struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Kronstadt military base, describing the operation as part of Kyiv's campaign of what it calls “long-range sanctions.”
“Ukraine's plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer,” Zelensky said on social media, posting a video showing an oil depot on fire.
The attack forced St. Petersburg's main airport to suspend operations for several hours overnight.
Ukrainian officials said the strike was intended to disrupt the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which runs from June 3-6 and is expected to draw around 20,000 participants from more than 100 countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to attend the event and deliver a keynote address on Friday.
“The Petersburg forum is opening with a nice plume of black smoke in the background after Ukrainian strikes,” Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine's defense minister, wrote on social media alongside footage showing smoke rising near the venue.
The annual forum was once regarded as Russia’s premier event for attracting Western investors and businesses.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said on Telegram that Ukrainian drones targeted infrastructure facilities in the Kronstadt, Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts early Wednesday.
He said several facilities sustained damage.
“Cleanup efforts are currently underway. Several people were injured. There were no fatalities,” Beglov said.
A Russian official also confirmed that a fire broke out at the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal following the attack.
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The attack came a day after a large-scale Russian missile and drone barrage killed 23 people across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Both sides have increasingly targeted infrastructure and military facilities far from the front lines as the war continues into its fifth year.
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