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On Wednesday morning, a flotilla of slow-moving Ukrainian drones penetrated Russian air defenses to attack the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, a petroleum transshipment pier about five miles from the city center.
Ukraine's ability to operate unmanned systems in Russian airspace has been growing for months, but Wednesday's strike - recorded extensively on Russian social media, despite strict criminal penalties - provided an unusually stark demonstration. Loud, slow-moving Ukrainian drones circled over the city's residential districts, unbothered by sporadic gunfire. At least three drones appear to have found targets in the tank farm at the oil terminal, and flame and smoke billowed from the site.
Targets in Kronstadt and Kransnoselsky districts were also hit, according to TASS. Several injuries have been reported, but no fatalities.
The attack arrived just hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia's premier annual business conference. The event has historically been an important venue for Russian President Vladimir Putin to address the international community and his own constituents. Putin was scheduled to give a keynote speech at the conference's plenary session on June 5; given the security situation, it is as-yet unclear whether that appearance will go forward.
Among the 20,000 expected attendees at this year's SPIEF gathering are representatives from Germany and the United States, both absent in recent years due to the ongoing invasion. Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., an architect and the head of the Trump administration's Commission of Fine Arts, is said to be leading the American delegation.
The SPIEF forum attempts to find common economic ground with partner nations, and deemphasizes the "special military operation." But on Wednesday, smoke columns from the Ukrainian strike could not be missed in the background at the St. Petersburg Ekspoforum, the giant conference complex where SPIEF is held each year. Visitors who planned to fly into the nearby airport for the event are unable to do so, as authorities have shut down the region's airspace for security reasons.
The strike follows a days-long series of deadly Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and other cities; many of the missiles hit residential blocks. 22 Ukrainians died overnight Monday in Russian missile strikes on civilian areas, according to the BBC.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
