Kyiv has targeted an oil facility in the Russian city of St Petersburg, more than 500 miles away from Ukraine, in a rare long-range drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s hometown.
Russian media claimed three drones were fired toward the city, two of which were downed in the Gulf of Finland, while one outlet claimed there had been a fire after a third drone exploded between two fuel tanks.
A Ukrainian military source has since told Reuters that the drones hit their targets, adding that the longer range attacks were part of a “new phase” of war.
St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov has acknowledged the attack but said no one was injured. Russia’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), meanwhile, claimed they intercepted a drone “over the territory of the Leningrad region”, a reference to St Petersburg’s old name prior to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Russian authorities also reported a missile attack on the city of Belgorod, close to the border. Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said air defences had downed all 10 missiles but that one person had been injured.
Russian missiles hit Ukrainian apartment buildings and injure 17 in latest strikes on civilian areas
