Ukraine targeted oil facilities and energy infrastructure in the St. Petersburg region with a series of airstrikes on Saturday night. The main target of these attacks was the oil product export terminal located on the St. Petersburg coastline, which reportedly sustained significant damage.
Details of the Attacks and Damage
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, air defense units destroyed over 1,000 Ukrainian drones near Moscow, St. Petersburg, and surrounding areas. These attacks are considered one of the largest Ukrainian offensives to date, surpassing a similar attack in June on western Russia.
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The local governor confirmed in a statement on social media that the drones caused fires at the St. Petersburg oil terminal, an oil depot in Ruchi, and two transformer stations and an industrial storage complex. In these attacks, five people were injured and one person lost their life.
Oil Terminal and Its Impacts
Based on images obtained from witnesses at the scene, it appears that these attacks damaged a tank at the center of the St. Petersburg oil terminal. This terminal, located in the heart of the port's coastline, had also been damaged in a larger attack in June.
The Ruchi oil depot, located near Piskarevsky Street and Shafirova Street, is a small local depot that had also experienced an explosion in September 2023. Additionally, other targets included a distribution center for the Russian online retailer Ozon and a data center for the social network Vkontakte.
Ukraine's attacks on oil facilities in St. Petersburg come as Russian forces launched about 2,600 drones at Ukrainian energy infrastructure last week, damaging these infrastructures over 70 times. Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, stated that Russia has never accepted Donald Trump's request for an energy ceasefire or made any effort to comply with it.
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