Ukraine hits St. Petersburg oil terminal and naval base with drones

Ukrainian long-range drones hit an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and a warship in dry dock at a nearby naval base, pushing the war’s strike zone deep into Russia’s northwest and exposing how vulnerable symbolic and strategic sites around the Baltic Fleet have become.

The June 3 attack struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and a vessel later identified as the corvette Boikiy at the Veleshchynskyi dry dock in Kronstadt, a naval outpost linked to Russia’s Baltic Fleet. Ukrainian officials said the drones had flown more than 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles, to reach the target area. The timing added to the political sting: the strike came hours before Vladimir Putin’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum began, turning a flagship showcase for Russian investment into the backdrop for a drone raid.

The attack also had immediate civilian and logistical consequences. Operations at Pulkovo Airport were disrupted, and mobile internet services in St. Petersburg were temporarily restricted, underscoring how a military strike far from the front line can spill into transport and communications in a major Russian city. Russian authorities said infrastructure in St. Petersburg was damaged but initially provided little detail.

The second wave came on June 6 and 7, when Ukraine launched another large drone attack on St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region. Russian officials said they intercepted 376 drones nationwide, including 141 over the Leningrad region, while Alexander Beglov, the St. Petersburg governor, said three people sustained minor injuries.

The repeated strikes matter because they show a widening Ukrainian capacity to pressure Russia well beyond the battlefield, including areas that Moscow has long treated as secure rear territory. Hitting an oil terminal and a naval facility near St. Petersburg raises the stakes for Russia’s air defenses and naval posture at a time when the Kremlin has tried to project calm around its northern capital and the Baltic Fleet.

The attacks also followed Vladimir Putin’s public rejection of a proposed meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, giving the drone campaign a diplomatic edge as well as a military one. Together, the St. Petersburg strikes suggest Ukraine is entering a more ambitious phase of long-range warfare, using mass drone attacks not only to damage infrastructure but to test Russia’s ability to defend political, economic and military assets deep inside its own territory.