St Petersburg oil terminal hit as Ukraine targets Russia in major drone attack

Ukrainian drones have struck an oil terminal and port in St Petersburg and the surrounding region, Russian and Ukrainian officials say.

The attack is the latest in a line of long-range bombardments of Russia's oil infrastructure by Kyiv, raising the political pressure on the Kremlin as its invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year.

Governor Alexander Beglov said the city's Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defences shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across the city and the surrounding region. He said there were no casualties.

Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the surrounding Leningrad region, said a drone had struck the area of Vysotsk port, about 170 km (105 miles) northwest of St Petersburg on the Baltic ​Sea.

The port handles oil, grain, coal, and liquefied natural gas.

Drozdenko said 72 ⁠drones had been shot down over the region, and ⁠there was minor damage in several settlements. He gave no information on the impact on Vysotsk port.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions" against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St Petersburg.

President Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Telegram: "The Ukrainian defence forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt - an important military target."

There was no Russian confirmation of ‌a strike on Kronstadt, a major naval base near St Petersburg that Ukraine also targeted in an earlier attack in June.

St Petersburg's Kirovsky district was also previously hit in June, on the first day of Russia's flagship St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The border city of Belgorod, which Ukrainian drone strikes have also repeatedly targeted, was left almost completely without power on Saturday due to overnight attacks, local media reported.

Meanwhile, eight people were wounded, including two children, after a Russian strike hit residential buildings in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said on Saturday.

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure this year, inflicting major damage on refineries and causing gasoline shortages across the country's 11 time zones.

Vladimir Putin has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, but analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been hindered in recent months.

On Saturday, Mr Putin signed a law amending ‌tax code to support the fuel market, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

(c) Sky News 2026: St Petersburg oil terminal hit as Ukraine targets Russia in major drone attack