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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike was part of the country’s ‘long-range sanctions plan’
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St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region was struck by a large Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Saturday, with a local port and oil infrastructure hit, Russian and Ukrainian authorities have said.
An oil terminal was struck in Russia’s second city, home to six million, although St Petersburg’s governor Alexander Beglov said there were no casualties.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the revenue generating port had been struck, as had Kronstadt, an “important military target” more than 500 miles from Ukraine’s state border.
“My thanks to everyone who is ensuring Ukraine’s precision and carrying out our long-range sanctions plan.”
Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said 72 drones were shot down but some had struck the port of Vyotsk, which handles oil, grain, coal and liquefied natural gas.
It comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin said that targeted strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial complex “must continue”, two days after his forces launched their largest aerial attack of the war on Kyiv.
“I note that massive, coordinated strikes against the infrastructure of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the facilities supporting its operation must continue,” Putin said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law amending Russia’s tax code to incentivise boosting supply to the domestic fuel market, amid acute shortages as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes, state news agency TASS reported.
TASS said that among the law’s provisions are creating an excise tax mechanism to encourage the production of high-octane gasoline via blending.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that its forces have taken four villages in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, and one more in the neighbouring Donetsk region.
In its daily briefing, the ministry said Russian forces had taken control of Shyikivka, Novyi Myr, Cherneshchyna and Druzhelyubivka in Kharkiv region, as well as Vasylivka in Donetsk region.
The Independent could not verify the battlefield reports.
Russia is targeting Ukrainian railway locomotives and has destroyed or damaged more than 200 since the start of 2026 alone, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for Restoration Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Russia has attacked Ukrainian railway facilities more than 1,000 times so far this year, officials say.
Two locomotives were damaged during an attack on Friday evening in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Kuleba said.
The volume of repair work is increasing steadily and requires significant financial resources, he said.
Ukrainian state railways operator Ukrzaliznytsia handles more than 90 per cent of Ukraine’s export shipments.
Russia’s second city of St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region came under a large Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Saturday, with a local port and oil infrastructure struck, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said.
St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said the city of 6 million had been subjected to a “large-scale” drone attack, with the city’s oil terminal struck. He said there were no casualties and that the aftermath of the attack had been dealt with.
Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said drones had struck the port of Vysotsk, about 170 km (105 miles) northwest of St Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. The port handles oil, grain, coal and liquefied natural gas.
Drozdenko said 72 drones had been shot down over the Leningrad region.
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Ukraine’s defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war, and also hit Kronstadt, an important military target more than 850 km (528 miles) from Ukraine’s state border.”
Ukraine has categorically denied Russia’s claims that its military captured the key eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka.
Russia’s military general Valery Gerasimov told president Vladimir Putin yesterday that it had captured Kostiantynivka.
“We all know that this city is a key transport and large industrial centre of Donbas,” Putin said.
But Ukrainian military denies these claims, calling them fake.
“We deny this. These are more fake claims,” a general military staff said.
The governor of Russia’s second city of St Petersburg said in a statement today that the city of 6 million came under a “large-scale” drone attack when its oil terminals were struck.
There were no casualties and the aftermath of the attack has been dealth with, governor Alexander Beglov said.
A swarm of drones struck the port of Vysotsk about 170km (105 miles) northwest of St Petersburg, which handles oil, grain, coal and liquefied natural gas.
Over 70 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, the governor said.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday that the coming months could be crucial “for various scenarios”, stating that the country is preparing for military provocations.
“These concerns are particularly palpable in the Baltic states,” Tusk said.
Western intelligence agencies have been raising alarm in recent weeks about the possibility of a Russian operation in Poland, which shares a border with Russia’s heavily armed Kaliningrad and Moscow’s ally Belarus.
“We shouldn’t be afraid. We’re preparing for various situations, but we can’t ignore this,” Tusk said.
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