A Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil terminal in Russia's St. Petersburg on Saturday, Russian officials said, as Kyiv continued its long-range attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil facilities almost daily in recent months, a campaign aimed at disrupting fuel supplies and increasing pressure on the Kremlin as the war enters its fifth year.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said the attack struck the Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea. He also said Russian air defenses intercepted 72 Ukrainian drones over the city and surrounding areas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation was part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions" against Russia. In a post on Telegram, he said Ukrainian forces struck oil facilities at the port and also hit a military target on Kronstadt Island, located off the coast of St. Petersburg.
"The Ukrainian defense forces hit the port's oil infrastructure, which helps finance Russia's war, and also struck Kronstadt, an important military target," Zelenskyy said.
The Kirovsky district was also targeted in June, shortly before Russia hosted the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Ukraine also continued attacks on Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014. Moscow-installed Governor Sergei Aksyonov said a Ukrainian strike on Saturday killed one person and injured two others, including a 10-year-old child. Repeated attacks have forced local authorities to suspend gasoline sales to civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Ukraine's strikes on Russia's energy facilities as "not critical" and has insisted Moscow will continue the war until its objectives are achieved.
He has argued that the attacks are intended to shift attention away from Ukraine's battlefield losses. However, military analysts say Russia's advances have slowed in recent months.
On Friday, Putin visited Russia's military headquarters overseeing the war in Ukraine, where he received a report claiming Russian forces had captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka after weeks of heavy fighting. He described the development as an important step toward advancing on the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two of Ukraine's remaining strongholds in the Donetsk region.
Putin called the capture of Kostyantynivka, a major transport and industrial center, a development of "major strategic importance."
Ukraine denied the claim. General Staff spokesperson Maj. Andriy Kovalev told local media that Russian forces had not taken control of the city and accused Moscow of spreading "outright disinformation."
The ongoing drone campaign has increasingly brought the war into Russian territory. Local media reported that the border city of Belgorod was left almost entirely without electricity on Saturday following overnight Ukrainian drone attacks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said eight people, including two children, were injured after Russian strikes hit residential buildings in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday.