Russian oil facilities hit by second Ukrainian drone attack after Putin rejects talks

One person is dead and an oil depot has been set ablaze after a series of drone attacks waged by Ukraine on the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Russian air defences intercepted a total of 376 drones according to the country’s defence ministry.

Regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said more than 140 drones were shot down in the Leningrad region, which surrounds St Petersburg.

A drone attack in the town of Ust-Labinsk caused a fire at an oil depot, confirmed by local authorities via their Telegram channel.

It comes after a separate Ukrainian drone attack hit an oil terminal in St Petersburg, as well as a nearby naval base on Wednesday.

The attacks on Wednesday came hours before the opening of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, regarded as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual showcase for investment.

Local response

City Governor Alexander Beglov issued a rare call for residents to stay indoors, after drone debris killed one person in the Tver region.

The attacks have injured three people according to Mr Beglov.

“Russian air defences prevented any damage. The condition of the three injured is assessed as minor and they have been discharged,” he said.

Meeting rejected by Putin

Attacks on Saturday came one day after Mr Putin refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelenskyy.

Mr Putin described Mr Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish”.

“I see no point in meeting. It only makes sense for the Ukrainian side to stop the advance of our armed forces,” he said.

“And we need agreements.

“Let the experts work, develop some solutions, and then we can meet.”

He went on to say the war in Ukraine would end only once Russia had achieved its “goals”.

Russia has demanded control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as well as sweeping political and military restrictions on Ukraine.

Ukrainian push back

Ukranian Prime Minister Vladimir Zelenskyy described the strikes as “just a response” to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

“Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St Petersburg region — to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Responding to Mr Putin’s dismissal of the proposed meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said things would “only get worse for Russia.”

Saturday’s attacks coincide with the final day of Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg, according to officials.

Mr Sybiha said “failures will get more humiliating,” in a post to social media, warning there are “no safe places in Russia that can be exempt,” from Ukrainian long range attacks.

The post also detailed the intensity of attacks “will continue to grow.”

In Ukraine, one person was killed and three people left wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, according to regional head Oleksandr Hanzha.

In Zaporizhzhia, seven people sought medical care after a Russian drone strike started a fire in a parking lot, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said 249 of the 272 strike drones launched by Russia had been shot down overnight.

AP, Reuters, AFP