Ukraine drones hit Russian oil terminals near St. Petersburg; glide bomb kills four in Sumy
Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities at the Baltic Sea port of Vysotsk and possibly St. Petersburg itself overnight, while a Russian glide bomb killed at least four civilians in Sumy, including a child.
Drone attack on Baltic oil facilities
Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on Russian oil infrastructure near St. Petersburg overnight. Leningrad region governor Alexander Drosdenko reported that 67 drones were shot down, though one source cited 72. Debris fell in the port of Vysotsk on the Gulf of Finland, about 170 km northwest of St. Petersburg, where a major oil loading terminal operates. Videos on Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels suggested the oil port of St. Petersburg itself was also hit, but city authorities did not confirm this. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged attacks on the outskirts but not the city proper, and said 389 Ukrainian drones were intercepted nationwide.
- Russian glide bomb hits Sumy city center, killing at least four.
- Ukrainian drones attack oil facilities near St. Petersburg; debris falls in Vysotsk port.
- Russia claims capture of Kostiantynivka; Ukraine denies.
Glide bomb kills four in Sumy
On Friday evening, a Russian glide bomb struck a busy residential area in the center of Sumy, northeastern Ukraine. At least four people were killed, including a five-year-old child and its mother, and 27 were injured, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorow. Rescue workers searched for survivors in the rubble of a high-rise building. The Ukrainian Air Force had launched six glide bombs at the city center, released from Russian jets at a safe distance. The Sumy region, bordering Russia, has been under near-constant shelling as Moscow attempts to create a buffer zone.
Wider civilian toll and mourning in Kyiv
The attack on Sumy was part of a broader wave of Russian strikes. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, three people died in more than 50 attacks with drones, artillery, and bombs, including two near Nikopol, across the Dnipro River from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. In the city of Zaporizhzhia, governor Ivan Fedorow reported two dead and 21 wounded. Meanwhile, Kyiv observed a day of mourning after the deadliest Russian attack on the capital this year killed at least 30 people on Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published images of the destruction and urged allies to increase pressure on Russia.
- Sumy (glide bomb)
- 4 people
- Dnipropetrovsk (multiple attacks)
- 3 people
- Zaporizhzhia (attacks)
- 2 people
- Kyiv (Thursday attack)
- 30 people
Frontline claims and denials
Russia claimed its forces captured the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin praising it as a significant success. Ukraine immediately rejected the claim as fake. The front line remains opaque, with both sides offering conflicting narratives.
Systematic campaign against Russian energy
The drone attack on St. Petersburg is the latest in a systematic Ukrainian campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure. In early June, Ukraine set fire to oil tanks at the St. Petersburg port during the International Economic Forum. More recently, a drone strike on the Norsi refinery, Russia's fourth-largest and second-biggest gasoline producer, halted crude processing at its main unit, which accounts for 53% of capacity. The campaign has caused fuel shortages and price increases across Russia.
