Russian authorities say Ukraine has launched an “unprecedented attack” on and around St Petersburg, as the city hosts the final day of Russia’s annual economic forum.
More than 140 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region, governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said, while the city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, urged residents to remain indoors for the first time since the war began more than four years ago.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had hit Russia’s arsenals and a naval base in what he called a just response to Russian attacks.
It comes a day after Vladimir Putin told the forum there was no point in meeting Zelensky, who had called for direct talks on ending the war.
Governor Drozdenko said Ukraine’s attacks had caused a fire at an unspecified military facility, and that residents had been evacuated. He also said buildings had sustained “insignificant” damage.
Zelensky said his country’s drones had covered a distance of 1,000km to the St Petersburg region, targeting “the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt”. .
According to Zelensky, an oil depot 500km away, in the southern Krasnodar region, was also hit as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” – a euphemism for strikes on Russia.
The commander of one of the Ukrainian units involved in the drone strikes told the BBC that it was very easy to hit targets inside Russia.
These latest attacks follow Ukrainian strikes on the outskirts of St Petersburg as Putin’s flagship economic forum was getting under way just days earlier.
The major forum, designed to attract foreign investment into the country, drew thousands of guests from 130 countries, including a low-key US delegation – the first for many years.
In his open letter to Putin, Zelensky called for a ceasefire and face-to-face negotiations with the Russian leader to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Speaking at the economic forum on Friday, Putin refused the request for a meeting with Zelensky and reiterated his position that a truce would only allow Ukraine to regroup.
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