Moscow: Russian authorities said they intercepted hundreds of Ukrainian drones on Saturday, including strikes reported near Saint Petersburg as the city hosted the high-profile Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, AFP reported.
Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up drone operations against each other in recent months, even as Western-led diplomacy to resolve the five-year conflict has stalled amid tensions over the war in the Middle East. The forum, once referred to as “Russia’s Davos,” wrapped up on Saturday a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed attendees.
Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad region — which surrounds Saint Petersburg and includes important Baltic ports — said, “Eighty-six UAVs have been shot down over Leningrad region. Combat operations continue.” Authorities reported that on the summit’s opening day Ukrainian drones struck an oil facility and a military site in Saint Petersburg, Putin’s native city.
Russia’s defence ministry reported that its air-defence systems neutralised a total of 376 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said the intercepts occurred across a wide swath of territory and waters: Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Leningrad, Novgorod, Oryol, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, and Tula regions, the Moscow region, the Crimea Republic, the Abkhazia Republic, and over the Azov and Black Seas.
In addition to the strikes and interceptions, Ukraine reported casualties from Russian attacks. In southern Ukraine, local officials said two men who had been missing after an assault on Zaporizhzhia were found dead, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. In Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Oleksandr Ganzha posted on Telegram that one person was killed and three were wounded after Russian drone and artillery strikes.
Russian local authorities also reported a fire at an oil depot in Ust-Labinsk in southern Russia following a drone attack; officials said there were no injuries. Earlier on Saturday, Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, reported that Russian forces had shot down nine Ukrainian drones that were heading toward the capital.
