A Ukrainian drone attack hit an oil terminal in St. Petersburg’s Kirovsky district on Saturday, Russian officials said, as Kyiv continues to target Russia’s fuel infrastructure.
Almost daily long‑range strikes on Russian oil facilities have sparked a fuel shortage and increased political pressure on the Kremlin amid the fifth year of its invasion of Ukraine.
Governor Alexander Beglov reported that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones over the city and surrounding region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the operation as part of Ukraine’s “long‑range sanctions” against Russia, adding that a military target on the island of Kronstadt, near St. Petersburg, was also struck.
“Ukrainian forces hit the port’s oil infrastructure, which generates revenue for the Russian war effort, and also struck Kronstadt — a significant military target,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
The Kirovsky district was previously hit in June, ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, has endured heavy strikes, prompting local authorities to suspend civilian gasoline sales. A Ukrainian attack on Saturday killed one person and injured two others, including a 10‑year‑old child, according to the Moscow‑installed governor Sergei Aksyonov.
President Vladimir Putin dismissed the attacks on Russian energy sites as “not critical,” insisting the war will continue until his objectives are achieved.
He framed the strikes as Ukrainian attempts to divert attention from battlefield losses, although analysts note that Russian advances have stalled in recent months.
On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters overseeing the war in Ukraine and received a report on the alleged capture of the city of Kostyantynivka after intense street fighting. He hailed this as a key step toward taking nearby strongholds in the Donetsk region.
Putin called the capture of Kostyantynivka, a major transport and industrial hub, “of major strategic importance” in televised remarks.
Ukrainian officials denied that Russia had seized the city. General Staff spokesperson Maj. Andriy Kovalev told Ukrainska Pravda that Moscow was spreading “outright disinformation” and that Russian forces had not succeeded.
Despite the attacks, the Russian leadership believes it can manage the fuel crisis without undermining its authority or support for the war that began over four years ago. The strikes, however, have made the conflict feel more immediate for millions of Russians, challenging Putin’s narrative that the war does not affect ordinary citizens.
The border city of Belgorod, also frequently targeted by Ukrainian drones, was left almost completely without power on Saturday following overnight attacks, local media reported.
In a separate incident, eight people were wounded, including two children, when a Russian strike hit residential buildings in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.