St Petersburg region port, oil terminal hit in major Ukrainian drone attack

MOSCOW, July 4 - Russia's second city of St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region came under a large Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Saturday, with a local port and oil infrastructure struck, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said.

St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said the city of 6 million had been subjected to a "large-scale" drone attack, with the city's oil terminal struck. He said there were no casualties and that the aftermath of the attack had been dealt with.

Leningrad region Governor Alexander Drozdenko 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 Leningrad region, and there was minor damage in several settlements. He gave no information on the impact on Vysotsk port.

In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "Ukraine's defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia's war, and also hit Kronstadt, an important military target more than 850 km (528 miles) from Ukraine's state border."

There was no information from Russia on a strike on Kronstadt, a major naval base close to St Petersburg that Ukraine hit in a previous attack on the city in June.

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure this year, causing fuel shortages throughout much of Russia.

In the Leningrad region town of Gatchina on Friday, a Reuters witness saw long queues at fuel stations, with some stations entirely out of fuel.

One queuing resident, who gave his name as Gennadiy, told Reuters: "Standing in queues after work isn't exactly fun."

"And then, in a couple of days, I’ll have to stand in queues again, because I’ll run out of gas again."

Elsewhere, the governor of Russia's Bryansk region, as well as the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said that drone strikes had killed one person in each region, with several more wounded.

South of St Petersburg, the governor of Pskov region said more than 30 drones had been shot down overnight. He reported minor damage and injuries, including to a factory in the town of Velikiye Luki. REUTERS