Ukraine Hits St Petersburg Oil Terminal and Port With 72 Drones Shot Down
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Jul 4
Ukraine Hits St Petersburg Oil Terminal and Port With 72 Drones Shot Down
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Jul 4
Summary
St Petersburg faced one of Ukraine’s deepest strikes yet overnight, with drones hitting an oil terminal in the Kirovsky district and debris falling near the Baltic port of Vysotsk and the Peterhof palace complex.
Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences downed 72 UAVs over the region, while authorities briefly halted flights at Pulkovo Airport and throttled mobile internet to disrupt drone navigation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation targeted oil infrastructure financing Russia’s war and also struck the Kronstadt naval base, which he called an important military target.
Ukraine’s General Staff said attacks had disabled 42.74% of Russia’s refining capacity and caused $13.5 billion in losses since August 2025; outside analysts put the disruption closer to one-third.
The exchange is intensifying: Russia said it intercepted 389 Ukrainian drones nationwide overnight, while a Russian drone strike hit a Poltava gas facility after attacks that killed 30 in Kyiv and four in Sumy.
After attacks on both Kyiv and St. Petersburg, who is winning the escalating long-range strike war?
As AI-guided drones hit St. Petersburg, has Ukraine's technology erased Russia's strategic depth advantage?
By crippling Russia's oil industry, can Ukraine's drone campaign force Putin to the negotiating table this year?
The July 4, 2026 St. Petersburg Drone Attack: Ukraine’s Long-Range Strike and Its Economic, Political, and Military Fallout
Overview
On July 4, 2026, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia’s Leningrad region, targeting the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and the port of Vysotsk. This strike was part of Ukraine’s intensified strategy to disrupt Russian energy supplies and create fuel shortages, focusing on St. Petersburg as a heavily defended and vital oil export hub. Russian authorities responded with a major defensive effort, claiming to intercept 67 drones, which highlights the scale and significance of the operation. The attack demonstrates Ukraine’s growing drone capabilities and its aim to weaken Russia’s war economy by hitting critical infrastructure.