Ukraine strikes St Petersburg oil terminal in devastating long-range attack as pressure mounts on Vladimir Putin

Ukraine has continued its targeted attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, as it struck an oil terminal outside St. Petersburg early this morning.

Dozens of Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian city overnight, with one hitting the terminal and another striking the grounds of the Peterhof, the historical home of Russian tsars.

The governor of St Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, confirmed on social media that “an oil terminal in the city’s Krovsky district” had been hit and stated that Russian air defences had hit 72 drones from the attack.

He added that the “technical consequences” at the oil terminal had been resolved and that no one was injured in the strike.

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It has been almost a month since Kyiv last mounted a significant drone strike on the city, with the last coming in early June, when Vladimir Putin was attending an economic forum in his birthplace.

Earlier today, Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of Leningrad region, said that drone wreckage had fallen close to the Finnish border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the operation struck a key Russian military facility.

He wrote on Telegram: “Ukraine’s defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war, and also hit Kronstadt, an important military target more than 850km (530 miles) from Ukraine’s state border.”

The attack comes just two days after Russia launched an aerial attack on Kyiv, which killed at least 30 people, and forced 50,000 people to take shelter.

Video of the aftermath showed a nine-storey building turned to rubble as emergency services attempted to extinguish multiple fires throughout the Ukrainian capital.

Pictures from the capital showed windows blown out and cars destroyed, with one witness saying they heard multiple explosions.

Dozens of people were forced into underground stations carrying sleeping bags, tents, children and pets as air raid sirens blared in the worst attacks on Ukraine since mid June.

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The Ukrainian President said the Russian leader was "completely refusing to end the war", despite calls from Kyiv to enter meaningful negotiations.

Ukraine has been targeting attacks on energy infrastructure throughout Russia, which has led to Mr Putin admitting that the country was facing “problems.”

The Russian war machine is facing fuel shortages, energy blackouts and long queues at petrol stations as Kyiv has continued to attack oil depots and refineries.

Retired US Army officer Ben Hodges has said that momentum has shifted to President Zelensky and Ukraine in recent weeks.

Mr Hodges told The Sun: “It’s clear to almost anybody that’s watching that the momentum has shifted in favour of Ukraine.

“The momentum has shifted because the Russian ground operations have been stopped and the Russian Navy is barely a factor anymore.

“Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes are wrecking Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure and if they can continue this over the coming weeks, then it will be long term damage.

“If they can sustain this, going towards the end of the year, it will be very, very difficult for the Russians to support their own operations.

“I don’t think they’ll be able to sustain it at this sort of level deep into next year.”

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