A Ukrainian drone attack struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg on Saturday, Russian officials said, as Kyiv presses on with bombardment of
Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its stretches into its fifth year.
Gov. Alexander Beglov said the city鈥檚 Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across Russia’s second-largest city and the surrounding region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine鈥檚 鈥渓ong-range sanctions鈥� against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St. Petersburg.
鈥淭he Ukrainian defense forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt 鈥� an important military target,鈥� he said in a post on Telegram.
St. Petersburg鈥檚 Kirovsky district was previously hit in June, ahead of Russia鈥檚 flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, has suffered particularly from heavy strikes, causing local authorities to suspend gasoline sales to civilians. A Ukrainian attack on Saturday killed one person and injured two more, including a 10-year-old child, the Moscow-installed Gov. Sergei Aksyonov said.
Ukrainian attacks bring the war home
Russian President Vladimir Putin has on Russia鈥檚 energy facilities as 鈥渘ot critical,鈥� and insisted until his goals are met.
He has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, although analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been .
On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the war in Ukraine and received a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka, after weeks of intense street battles. He hailed it as a key step toward capturing the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the key remaining strongholds in the so-called 鈥渇orest belt鈥� of heavily fortified cities in the Donetsk region that remain in Ukraine鈥檚 hands.
The capture of Kostyantynivka, a big transport and industrial hub, is of 鈥渕ajor strategic importance,鈥� Putin, clad in military fatigues, said in televised comments.
Zelenskyy denied that Russia took control of the city. 鈥淚t is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story,鈥� he wrote on social media Saturday. 鈥淚f Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war. But the fact is, he won鈥檛 cross the front line 鈥� reality is very different from Putin鈥檚 words.鈥�
Zelenskyy’s post also seemed to appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump. 鈥淣ow, on the eve of America鈥檚 Independence Day, Putin has chosen to lie to the world and to the President of the United States about the situation on the front.鈥�
Putin appears to believe his government can keep the fuel crisis from eroding his authority and support for the war he launched more than four years ago. At the very least, the attacks have even more poignantly for millions of Russians, shattering Putin鈥檚 narrative of the conflict as something that doesn鈥檛 affect the lives of ordinary people in his country.
The border city of Belgorod, which Ukrainian drone strikes have also repeatedly targeted, was left almost completely without power on Saturday due to overnight attacks, local media reported.
Meanwhile, eight people were wounded after a Russian attack struck residential buildings in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, including two children, local authorities said on Saturday.
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