Ukraine drones strike Saint Petersburg oil terminal
A major fire erupted at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal overnight following a Ukrainian drone strike, triggering consecutive explosions that lasted until dawn.
The attack on the strategic port facility on June 3 forced authorities to issue air raid alerts before multiple fuel tanks caught fire.
At the same time, separate Ukrainian drone strikes targeted Moscow and the Progress defense industry plant in the Tambov region.
Strategic infrastructure hit
Sankt-Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko stated on Telegram that air defenses downed 30 drones over the region, though he omitted details regarding the port fire.
The Saint Petersburg oil terminal spans 37 hectares, operates 21 storage tanks, and possesses an annual processing capacity of 12.5 million tonnes.
The facility holds critical strategic importance for Russian security and has been registered as a natural monopoly since 2000.
Economic and regional context
According to SPARK-Interfax data, the terminal recorded substantial revenues in 2024, having shipped 8.2 million tonnes of oil products in previous peak years like 2020.
The long-range strikes coincided exactly with the opening of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, scheduled for June 3–6.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that emergency services deployed across the capital to clear debris from several downed drones.
Retaliation for Ukrainian casualties
The mass drone operations followed intensive Russian missile and drone bombardments against major Ukrainian cities just one day prior.
Those Russian strikes targeted Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, killing dozens of civilians and injuring over one hundred others, including children.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
