Ukrainian attacks kill several in Crimea after Kyiv targets St. Petersburg energy, military sites

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of Crimea, said Ukrainian forces had ⁠hit a non-residential part of Simferopol, the peninsula’s main administrative town, killing three people and injuring seven.

Aksyonov later said on Telegram that ‌one person had been killed and three wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a commuter ⁠train in eastern Crimea.

The attacks came a day after Kyiv targeted energy and military sites in Saint Petersburg where Russia is currently hosting a three-day economic forum – known as "Russia's Davos" – during which President Vladimir Putin is set to deliver a keynote speech. Some 20,000 guests from 130 countries have signed up for the event.

Read moreUkraine strikes St. Petersburg with drones ahead of 'Russian Davos'

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on the attacks, warning of a "real" risk of the war escalating as Ukraine underlines its ability to strike deep inside Russian territory.

Ukraine has described its strikes on Saint Petersburg as "fair" retaliation for a wave of Russian bombardment on its territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov vowed Russia would provide a "systemic" response to Ukraine's strikes on Saint Petersburg.

Black smoke from the strikes was visible from the conference venue as the first sessions started on Wednesday.

Valeria, a 32-year-old businesswoman from Moscow at the forum, told AFP she was used to the threat of attacks.

"We have been living under such attacks for many years now," she said.

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'Real' escalation risk 

Ukrainian officials have said the Saint Petersburg attack on an oil terminal and the city's Kronstadt military base was meant to disrupt the conference. 

"The Petersburg forum is opening with a nice plume of black smoke in the background after Ukrainian strikes," said Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was responding "accordingly" to Russian bombardment.

"It's just a matter of time before we can scale up the intensity of our responses," Zelensky said during a press conference in Kyiv with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

Read moreNATO chief in Kyiv says Russia is 'increasingly desperate'

On Wednesday, a drone strike on a bus in Russian-occupied east Ukraine killed at least seven people, Moscow-installed officials said.

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Two others were killed, one in the Bryansk region near the Ukraine border and another in the Russian-occupied Kharkiv region, they added.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks left at least 10 dead across Ukraine, local officials said.

Rubio said at a US Senate appropriations panel that Ukraine has "become increasingly effective at conducting long-range strikes deep into Russia".

It's "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," Rubio added.

Speaking earlier to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio lamented the lack of progress on ending the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"To this point, neither side has been willing to make concessions, particularly on the Russian side, necessary in order to bring peace about," he said.

"But we stand ready, and we've engaged and invested a tremendous amount of high-level time on that conflict over the last year," he added.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas earlier told AFP that Ukraine's attacks had spooked the Kremlin.

"It clearly shows also panic on the Russian side – why they are increasing the terrorist attacks that they're doing in Ukraine is because they don't know what to do with these things," Kallas said in an interview.

"Putin is losing money, men, and momentum, and that's why he's increasing attacks on civilians."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)