By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 3 (Reuters) – Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal and naval base in St Petersburg hours before President Vladimir Putin’s showcase economic forum got under way, an attempt to embarrass the Kremlin chief and show how vulnerable Russia’s cities are.
The attack on St Petersburg, Putin’s home city, and the location of his own ‘Davos’ – a glitzy annual economic forum designed to attract foreign investment – comes as both sides dial up strikes against each other in their more than four-year-old war with no imminent end in sight.
Unspecified “infrastructure objects” had been attacked in three districts of Russia’s second-biggest city and home to over 5 million people, Alexander Beglov, its governor, said. Air defences shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the surrounding Leningrad region, said.
“Several facilities have been damaged. Clean-up operations are currently underway. Several people have been injured. There have been no fatalities,” Beglov said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed his drones had struck the fuel terminal and said they had also targeted a military facility in Kronstadt on an island near the city where elements of Russia’s Baltic Fleet and major shipbuilding and repair facilities are located.
Ukraine’s General Staff said preliminary information indicated that ships and infrastructure had been hit in Kronstadt. Reuters could not independently verify that or how seriously the oil terminal had been damaged.
Unconfirmed video posted to social media showed locals filming Ukrainian aeroplane-style drones as they flew over parts of the city as fires appeared to rage at the export fuel terminal in the background. What sounded like anti-aircraft fire could be heard as one drone flew on unhindered.
Given the importance of the event to Moscow, the Ukrainian attack is likely to raise questions inside Russia about how effective its own air defence capabilities are, a problem that Ukraine is also grappling with. The location of the economic forum itself was heavily protected however, and there was no suggestion that Ukrainian drones had got close to the venue.
PLUME OF SMOKE
A plume of grey smoke was visible from St Petersburg’s historic city centre and Reuters correspondents reported hearing loud explosions on Wednesday morning. The same explosions would also have been heard by hundreds of forum guests, some of whom had flown in ahead of the first day of discussion.
Some of the most prominent guests this year are from Saudi Arabia, including Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
An eclectic group of Americans, including ex-Hollywood star Steven Seagal and right-wing influencer Candace Owens, are due to attend. Rodney Mims Cook Jr, named by President Donald Trump to head the Commission of Fine Arts overseeing his White House ballroom, is the first serving U.S. official to attend since 2018, according to the Kremlin.
The city’s Pulkovo airport had to temporarily restrict flights, Russia’s aviation watchdog said, and more than 30 flights were delayed or cancelled, local news outlets said.
The threat of Ukrainian drones last month disrupted another set-piece event – the annual May 9 Red Square military parade in Moscow to mark the Soviet Victory over Nazi Germany. Russia decided not to display military hardware at the parade for the first time in years citing the Ukrainian threat, and Zelenskiy – in another attempt to embarrass the Kremlin chief – promised in advance that his drones would not attack the parade.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew Osborn and Maxim RodionovEditing by Peter Graff)
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