A gray plume of smoke was seen rising over St. Petersburg early on Wednesday, as officials gathered for Russia’s annual economic forum, which Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend.
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Ukrainian drones struck energy and military sites in the Russian port city, Russian and Ukrainian authorities reported.
The Ukrainian military struck the Petersburg Oil Terminal overnight, roughly 1,100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“Purely military targets at the Kronstadt base were also hit,” Zelenskyy added. “Another target was an enterprise in the Tambov region involved in the production of Russian weapons”.
The city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, wrote that several infrastructure facilities were struck in the Kronstadt, Kirovsky, and Krasnoselsky districts.
“Cleanup efforts are currently underway. Several people were injured. There were no fatalities,” he wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, at least seven people were killed and 11 wounded after a drone struck a passenger bus, Russian authorities said Wednesday.
The bus was traveling from Moscow to Simferopol in the Moscow-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea when it was struck in the Donetsk region.
“In Yenakiyevo, a UAV attacked a Moscow–Simferopol coach; according to preliminary reports, seven civilians were killed,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Telegram.
“A further 11 people sustained injuries of varying severity, and all are receiving the necessary medical care,” he added.
Large-scale Russian attack kills at least 23 people, Zelenskyy warns Moscow may launch another attack
It comes a day after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack at Ukraine. The attack targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing at least 23 people and wounding 138 others, authorities said Tuesday evening.
Moscow is already preparing the next barrage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening in his regular daily address.
Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s allies to introduce tougher sanctions on Russia, underscoring that none of its drones or missiles can be introduced without components introduced from other countries.
He stated that Russia is still capable of producing its missiles and weapons due to large-scale schemes to circumvent sanctions.
Zelenskyy also called on Europe to develop its own air defense system, while encouraging Washington to supply missiles for Patriot systems, which can intercept Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Russian forces launched more than 70 missiles and 650 drones against Ukraine overnight on June 2. Around 100 more drones were launched during the day.
But while Ukraine’s air defense intercepted most of drones, it is the ballistics missiles which pose the biggest threat.
Patriot air defense system remains the only surface-to-air missile system in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of countering Moscow’s ballistic missile threat.
But the joint US-Israeli war on Iran has depleted a third of the stockpiles of Patriot interceptors, with Gulf heavily relying on the system as well.
Additional sources • AFP