Ukrainian drones strike St Petersburg as Putin's economic forum opens

In the first hour of daylight on Friday, Ukrainian long‑range drones attacked the outskirts of Russia’s second city, striking an oil terminal and the Baltic Fleet outpost in Kronstadt, while Moscow’s air defence systems intercepted 59 drones that had entered the region.

The drone strikes unfolded just before Vladimir Putin was due to deliver his keynote address at the St Peterburg Economic Forum, a flagship event aimed at luring foreign investment. The forum, once dubbed the “Russian Davos,” hosts delegations from 130 countries; for the first time in almost a decade, a discreet U.S. delegation, led by the head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is expected to attend.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Moscow would react; "Our responses will be systemic in nature," he told reporters. The attacks also caused a temporary shutdown of St Peterburg’s Pulkovo Airport and disrupted mobile internet services, while nearby Latvian and Estonian authorities issued air‑raid alerts.

Ukrainian defence official Robert Brovdi confirmed on Telegram that the corvette Boikiy in Kronstadt had been struck. Kyiv’s leadership has framed these longer‑range strikes as a strategic effort to cripple Russia’s energy infrastructure and, by extension, its war‑fighting capacity.

The day’s events followed a series of incidents in which Ukrainian drones caused casualties: a passenger bus in the Russia‑controlled Donetsk region was hit on Wednesday, killing seven people, records a Moscow‑installed official. Meanwhile, Moscow reportedly fired missiles and drones at Ukrainian towns, with at least 22 people killed in the same period.

For more context on the broader conflict, see “Seven people killed after a drone hit a bus in Donetsk.”