Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum that is a banner event for President Vladimir Putin. 

The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) to hit the terminal, Zelensky said on social media. Clouds of black smoke rose over the city’s port after the attack. St. Petersburg is Russia’s second-largest city and is where Putin was born.

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Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city’s infrastructure, without providing further details. The airport of St. Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities also cut off mobile internet services.

A strike deep in Russian territory

With the front line changing little as swarms of drones hinder battlefield movement, both sides have sought an edge by increasingly launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s invasion of its neighbour has now stretched into its fifth year, with no end in sight.

The latest strikes are an embarrassment for Putin, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow due to fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.

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Putin is set to speak on Friday at the economic forum in St. Petersburg that the Kremlin views as a prestige event. The gathering has for decades been Russia’s leading event for attracting foreign capital. It is sometimes called Russia’s Davos, likening it to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.

Major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago. Saudi Arabia is a special guest country this year and is due to send a large business delegation.

The strikes came a day after Russian forces launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing at least 22 civilians and wounding 138, as Moscow followed through with its threat of escalating its regular barrages.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s deep strikes have already taken on a “systematic” character.

Increasing frustration over defense weaponry

Ukraine is short of American-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of US stocks depleted by the Iran war, leaving it vulnerable to Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Zelensky on Wednesday expressed frustration with his own government’s officials, saying there is an agreement “at the highest political level” for the purchase of Patriot systems but implementation is being held up by financial, legal and technical considerations.

“The wait has taken too long,” he said on social media, demanding that officials unblock the purchase or there will be “serious personnel decisions.”

NATO chief Mark Rutte arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with officials that likely will cover air defense needs.

Ukraine’s own long-range attacks are aimed at diminishing Russia’s oil production, which is a key source of funding for Moscow, and disrupting weapon production.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities at the port of St. Petersburg and nearby ports.

Multiple strikes exchanged

Ukrainian drone attacks overnight also hit the Kronstadt naval base, an old base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet, seting ablaze a warship, the “Boykiy” corvette.

The strikes also hit a manufacturing plant involved in weapon production in Russia’s Tambov region, 600 kilometres (370 miles) from Ukraine, Zelensky said.

In the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a Ukrainian strike hit a bus that was traveling from Moscow to Crimea, killing seven and injuring 11, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.

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In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin. He said two other firefighters and a local resident were injured.

Meanwhile, Russia fired 198 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according to Ukraine’s air force, with air defences neutralising 189. 

Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said that over the previous 24 hours one civilian was killed and 15 more were injured, including three children, by Russian strikes.

In the southern Kherson, Russian overnight shelling and drone strikes killed an 86-year-old woman and wounded five other people, according to regional authorities.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)