Ukraine hits oil and military facilities near Russia’s St Petersburg

Kyiv’s drones disrupt St Petersburg internet and flights as Russian strikes halt a gas facility in central Ukraine.A wave of Ukrainian long-range drones has struck the St Petersburg region overnight, hitting an oil terminal and a Baltic Sea port in one of the largest deep-strike operations targeting President Vladimir Putin’s home city.Leningrad region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences shot down 72 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the region on Saturday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Russia’s triumphant tone shifts as Ukraine deploys ‘asymmetrical tactics’list 2 of 3What is Nayara, the Indian firm Russia is reportedly importing oil from?list 3 of 3Russia’s advance collapses in Ukraine, ‘40,000’ troops killed in Juneend of listThe operation, conducted approximately 900km (560 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory, triggered widespread local disruptions.Russian authorities briefly halted flight operations at Pulkovo Airport and throttled municipal mobile internet networks to jam the drones’ cellular-backed navigation systems.St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said that one drone crashed in the grounds of the 18th-century Peterhof Palace complex, and another hit an oil terminal in the city’s Kirovsky district.Regional officials said debris struck an oil terminal, a nearby port and a historic palace complex. Drozdenko added that drone debris fell near the port of Vysotsk, close to the Finnish border, without giving a casualty toll.Russia’s Defence Ministry said 389 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted overnight nationwide, but confirmed strikes only in the wider Leningrad region.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had struck oil infrastructure funding Russia’s war effort and also hit the Kronstadt naval base in St Petersburg, calling it “an important military target”.Russia’s oil refining capacity partially ‘disabled’On Saturday, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed its strikes had disabled 42.74 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity as of early July, reporting eight refineries hit over the past month and more than 60 storage tanks destroyed or damaged.