Ukrainian Drones Set St. Petersburg Oil Terminal Ablaze, Striking Putin's Showcase City Days Before His Economic Forum

Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze early Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, carrying the war deep into the heart of one of Russia's most prestigious cities just days before President Vladimir Putin is set to headline an annual economic forum there.

The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers — about 600 miles — to reach the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, a petroleum transshipment pier roughly five miles from the city center, Zelenskyy said on social media. Clouds of black smoke billowed over the port after the strike, footage circulating online showed, and the airport of St. Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight as the attack unfolded. Russian officials acknowledged the assault but said air defenses had repelled much of it.

The timing was unmistakable. Putin is scheduled to speak Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an event the Kremlin promotes as a glittering showcase of Russian commerce and prestige — sometimes dubbed the "Russian Davos." Major Western investors and officials have largely boycotted the gathering since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. This year Saudi Arabia is the forum's special guest country and is due to send a large business delegation, lending Moscow a measure of the international validation it craves.

By striking the terminal on the eve of the forum, Kyiv sought to puncture that image of normalcy and remind the Russian elite that no corner of the country is beyond reach. Ukraine has increasingly leaned on long-range domestic drones to take the fight to Russian energy infrastructure, oil refineries and military sites far from the front line, aiming to choke the export revenue that funds Moscow's war machine.

The St. Petersburg strike was not the only one overnight. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian drones also hit the Kronstadt naval base, a historic anchorage for Russia's Baltic Fleet, as well as a manufacturing plant involved in weapons production in Russia's Tambov region, some 600 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Taken together, the attacks underscored the expanding range and ambition of Ukraine's drone program even as Russian forces continue to pound Ukrainian cities with their own nightly barrages of missiles and Shahed drones.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the terminal fire, and the extent of the damage to the facility was not yet clear. Russia did not say whether oil shipments would be disrupted. But the symbolism of smoke rising over Putin's hometown — as he prepared to court foreign investors a few miles away — delivered exactly the message Kyiv intended.