Ukraine attacked an oil terminal in St. Petersburg in the early hours of Wednesday morning — just before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s big economic forum kicked off in the city.
“Important facilities on Russian territory were hit last night. Among them was the Petersburg Oil Terminal. The distance from Ukraine is about 1,100 kilometers. Purely military targets at the Kronstadt base were also hit,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement Wednesday.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — a key international event for Putin aiming to project strength and prove Russia is not globally isolated — started Wednesday with dozens of Russian officials, Gulf heavyweights and business representatives from Brazil and Germany expected to attend.
A U.S. delegation is expected to attend the forum for the first time since 2018, including the chair of the administration’s Commission of Fine Arts and architect of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, Rodney Cook.
Also in attendance: hard-right influencer and podcaster Candace Owens, who was sued by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte after pushing various conspiracy theories about the couple and their relationship; American actor Steven Seagal, whom Ukraine’s foreign minister quipped to POLITICO that Putin might as well appoint as his peace envoy; and possibly mega misogynist subject to multiple criminal charges Andrew Tate, who arrived in Moscow on Tuesday.
The overnight attack was a joint operation by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Russian authorities confirmed the assault on Wednesday.
“Early this morning, infrastructure facilities in Kronstadt, Kirovsky, and Krasnoselskiy districts were attacked by UAVs. Several objects were damaged. Several people were injured. There are no casualties,” St. Petersburg Mayor Aleksandr Beglov said in a statement.
Russian officials did not confirm the terminal — which is the biggest in northwestern Russia — was hit, but local open-source investigators geolocated videos of blasts in the area of the local port, where the facility is situated.
Ukraine’s campaign of long-range strikes on Russia’s oil refineries this year has put 40 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity out of action, Zelenskyy said last week.
“Russia is not doing well: Just as the Saint Petersburg Forum is about to open, large drone attacks are taking place,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže told the Riga Stratcom Dialogue on Wednesday morning. “There has been another oil refinery strike, smoke is rising, and the economy is also not doing well.”
Putin is planning to speak at the forum Thursday.
Source: Politico
