A wave of Ukrainian long-range drones has struck the St Petersburg region overnight, hitting an oil terminal and a Baltic Sea port in one of the largest deep-strike operations against President Vladimir Putin\u2019s home city.<\/p>\n
Leningrad region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences shot down 72 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the region on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u00a0said Ukrainian forces had struck oil infrastructure funding Russia\u2019s war effort and also hit the Kronstadt naval base in St Petersburg, calling it \u201can important military target\u201d.<\/p>\n
The operation, conducted approximately 900km (560 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory, triggered widespread local disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cZelensky\u2019s attempt to cause damage to civilian targets in the Russian Federation will not go unanswered by the armed forces of Russia,\u201d Moscow\u2019s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday, adding that Russian defences had downed more than 500 aerial targets, mostly drones but also 10 Flamingo missiles.<\/p>\n
Russian authorities briefly halted flight operations at Pulkovo Airport and throttled municipal mobile internet networks to jam the drones\u2019 cellular-backed navigation systems.<\/p>\n
St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said one drone crashed in the grounds of the 18th-century Peterhof Palace complex, and another hit an oil terminal in the city\u2019s Kirovsky district.<\/p>\n
Regional officials said debris struck an oil terminal, a nearby port and a historic palace complex. Drozdenko added that drone debris fell near the port of Vysotsk, close to the Finnish border, without giving a casualty toll.<\/p>\n
Moscow also reported one killed in Bryansk and another in annexed Crimea, while Belgorod officials said attacks on infrastructure cut power and water.<\/p>\n
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Russia\u2019s oil refining capacity partially \u2018disabled\u2019<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Ukraine\u2019s General Staff claimed its attacks had disabled 42.74 percent of Russia\u2019s oil refining capacity as of early July, reporting eight refineries hit over the past month and more than 60 storage tanks destroyed or damaged.<\/p>\n
It put cumulative industry losses at $13.5bn since August 2025.<\/p>\n
Independent energy analysts estimate the functional disruption to be closer to one-third of Russia\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n
The campaign has triggered domestic fuel shortages, prompting Moscow to extend petrol export bans and implement fuel sale restrictions across more than 40 regions and annexed Crimea.<\/p>\n
Putin acknowledged last Sunday that the attacks were causing a fuel shortage, though he described it as \u201cnot critical\u201d and said damaged facilities were being repaired quickly.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Russia on Saturday struck a gas production facility with a drone in the central Poltava region, causing a fire, Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA fire broke out at the site after the attack. Operations at the facility have been suspended,\u201d Naftogaz said on Telegram. \u201cThe enemy is systematically targeting gas production facilities in an attempt to reduce Ukraine\u2019s domestic output and complicate preparations for the heating season,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Moscow also announced that its forces had captured the strategic eastern town of Kostiantynivka, but Ukraine\u2019s Zelenskyy dismissed the claim as false, and Kyiv\u2019s military insisted that clashes were still under way in the area.<\/p>\n