In a dramatic escalation of its long-range campaign, Ukraine struck a major oil terminal in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg overnight on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Saturday. The attack, described by Ukrainian officials as one of the deepest and most significant strikes inside Russian territory since the war began, targeted critical infrastructure that directly funds Moscow’s war machine.
Zelensky said the terminal, located roughly 850 kilometers from Ukraine’s border, is a key revenue generator for the Kremlin. “This is infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war,” he stated in a Saturday morning address. The Ukrainian military identified the facility as “one of the largest” oil terminals in Russia, capable of processing 12.5 million tons of petroleum products annually. A video released by Zelensky’s office showed a drone streaking toward the target, followed by a massive plume of black smoke rising over the Baltic port city. The BBC later verified the strike on the terminal.
The assault comes as Ukraine intensifies its drone war on Russian energy infrastructure, a strategy Kyiv says has already disabled nearly 43 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity—a claim not independently confirmed. St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov acknowledged the hit, reporting that the city was under a “massive” drone attack that saw 72 Ukrainian drones shot down over the city and surrounding Leningrad region. He urged residents to stay indoors and warned of possible mobile internet disruptions, but reported no casualties.
Ukrainian military officials also claimed a strike on a key naval base of the Russian Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt, a fortified island near St. Petersburg. Russia has not publicly commented on that claim. The twin strikes mark a bold expansion of Ukraine’s reach, striking within the symbolic heart of Putin’s Russia just days after the Russian president made a rare public admission of fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian attacks. On Saturday, Putin signed a new law aimed at boosting domestic fuel supplies, a sign of mounting pressure.
In a separate development Saturday, Ukraine’s military denied that the key eastern town of Kostyantynivka had fallen to Russian forces. “Kostyantynivka remains under the control of the Defence Forces of Ukraine,” said Major Andriy Kovalyov, a military spokesman, pushing back against reports of a Russian breakthrough in the Donetsk region. The denial underscores the fluid and contested nature of the front lines, even as Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign reshapes the war’s geography.