By Euronews
Published on •Updated
An oil terminal and a data centre belonging to the VK social networking service were reportedly among the targets of a drone attack on St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region overnight into Sunday.
The attack is being described by Russian media as one of the largest on the area since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. One person was killed and 15 people were injured in the strikes, local officials said.
A total of 144 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.
According to Drozdenko, drone debris fell on houses in Gatchina and other districts, causing fires and damaging 55 vehicles.
“Emergency power cuts were recorded; specialists are carrying out emergency work and the electricity supply is being promptly restored. At the moment, two transformer substations in Yanino remain switched off, and 50 apartment blocks, home to around 20,000 people, are in the outage zone,” he said.
The VK press office reported an attack on its data centre in the Leningrad region but said the company’s services remained available to users as normal.
In St Petersburg, governor Aleksandr Beglov said fires broke out at civilian infrastructure facilities in the Nevsky, Krasnoselsky, Krasnogvardeisky, and Moskovsky districts and on the grounds of the St Petersburg oil terminal.
Preliminary information indicated that no one was injured. The oil terminal is located in the Great Port of St Petersburg.
The terminal is capable of receiving and shipping 1.1 million tonnes of fuel a month, using four berths for sea-going vessels and tankers. Its 32 storage tanks occupy an area of 442,000 square metres.
One of the fires broke out at an Ozon warehouse. According to the company, staff were evacuated. Smoke is rising above the warehouse complex, and several roads have been closed in the area.
Due to the attack, flights were suspended at Pulkovo airport for more than seven hours. Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation authority, lifted the restrictions at 10 am Moscow time.
Russian strikes on Ukraine
It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russian forces had carried out further strikes against Ukraine’s energy sector on Saturday night, targeting substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa regions.
“Tens of thousands of families remain without power. Energy workers and repair crews are working virtually around the clock to restore electricity supply,” he wrote in a post on X.
Zelenskyy said attacks on residential buildings had also left two people dead and 12 others reportedly injured.
According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia hit Ukraine with close to 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles over the last week.