St Petersburg woke to the sound of air defences and the sight of smoke: Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal and a naval facility just hours before President Vladimir Putin’s flagship economic forum was due to begin, a strike timed to underline how exposed even Russia’s biggest cities can be.
The attacks landed in Mr Putin’s home city, host of Russia’s own annual “Davos” — a high-profile investment showcase — as Moscow and Kyiv intensify reciprocal strikes in a war that has stretched beyond four years, with no immediate end in sight.
Alexander Beglov, the governor of St Petersburg — Russia’s second-largest city, home to more than five million people — said unspecified “infrastructure objects” were attacked in three districts.
In the surrounding Leningrad region, governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight.
“Several facilities have been damaged. Clean-up operations are currently underway. Several people have been injured. There have been no fatalities,” Mr Beglov said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian drones struck the fuel terminal. He said they also targeted a military facility in Kronstadt, on an island near St Petersburg that hosts elements of Russia’s Baltic Fleet as well as major shipbuilding and repair sites.
“I believe these are fair strikes. Just a day ago, there was a massive attack. We responded accordingly,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
“It’s just a matter of time before we can scale up the intensity of our responses,” he added.
Ukraine’s General Staff said preliminary information suggested ships and infrastructure were hit in Kronstadt. Reuters could not independently verify those claims or assess the extent of damage at the oil terminal.
Unverified videos circulating on social media appeared to show residents filming aeroplane-style drones flying over parts of the city, with flames visible at the export fuel terminal in the background. Sounds resembling anti-aircraft fire could be heard as one drone continued on.
With the forum a major moment in Moscow’s calendar, the strike is likely to prompt fresh questions inside Russia about the effectiveness of its air defences — a challenge Ukraine is also facing as it tries to protect its own cities.
The economic forum venue itself was under heavy protection, however, and there was no indication Ukrainian drones approached the site.
About 20,000 guests from 130 countries are expected to attend the three-day Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, once Russia’s premier stage for courting Western investors and corporations.
“The Petersburg forum is opening with a nice plume of black smoke in the background after Ukrainian strikes,” Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, wrote on social media, sharing a video that showed delegates heading toward the venue with smoke visible behind them.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the risk of the conflict spiralling is growing as Ukraine improves its ability to strike far inside Russian territory.
“Ukraine has become increasingly effective at conducting long range strikes deep into Russia,” Mr Rubio told a congressional committee, saying it was “one of the things that reminds us of why it’s important to try to bring this war to an end, if we can, because the risk of escalation is real, more real than it was two years ago.”
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Seven dead and 11 wounded in drone strike on bus
A Russian official said the bus was travelling between Moscow and Simferopol
Elsewhere, Moscow-installed authorities in the Donetsk region said a drone strike killed seven people and wounded 11 after hitting a bus in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.
The bus was travelling through the Donetsk region from Moscow to Simferopol in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, according to the authorities.
“In Yenakiyevo, a UAV attacked a Moscow-Simferopol coach; according to preliminary reports, seven civilians were killed,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said on Telegram.
“A further 11 people sustained injuries of varying severity, and all are receiving the necessary medical care,” he added.
Regional authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said a Russian drone strike killed a woman.
Russia said its air defences intercepted 354 Ukrainian drones across several regions overnight into this morning, including areas bordering Ukraine and annexed Crimea.
The Russian defence ministry said drones were brought down over Belgorod, Kursk and other western regions, as well as near Moscow and over the Sea of Azov.
On Tuesday, Ukraine said Russia fired 73 missiles and 656 drones in one of the war’s largest assaults, overwhelming parts of Ukraine’s air defences, killing at least 23 people, and damaging cities including Kyiv and Dnipro.
Ukraine ready for direct talks
NATO chief Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit after a series of large-scale Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital that proved fatal.
Mr Zelensky has urged NATO countries to accelerate deliveries of air-defence systems — particularly US-made Patriot batteries and ammunition — which Kyiv says it needs to counter Russian ballistic missiles.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky
“Thank God that today we have security guarantees that allow us to end this war on equal footing with the Russians in any format of diplomacy,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv, speaking alongside Mr Rutte.
He said it was “only a question of time” before Ukraine expanded the scale of its strikes, which he said had forced some Russian refineries to suspend operations and lifted morale among Ukrainians living under the constant threat of Russian drones and missiles for more than four years.
As Kyiv steps up long-range attacks on Russian territory, analysts say Ukrainian forces on the battlefield appear on their strongest footing in years.
Russia’s spring offensive is faltering, analysts said, in part because Ukrainian counterattacks have kept its gains small.
Mr Zelensky said he was prepared to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that direct talks were necessary to break the deadlock in negotiations — including over eastern Donbas.
Russia failed to fully capture the region during its full-scale invasion and has demanded that Ukraine withdraw troops from parts it still controls.
“I am ready for direct talks with Putin to bring this war to an end, rather than waiting for when all will resolve every conflict in the world before our turn finally comes,” Mr Zelensky said, in an apparent reference to US-brokered talks and Washington’s current focus on its war on Iran.
