Ukraine targets St. Petersburg with drone swarm on final day of Russia's investment forum

Attack on the forum's final day

Russian authorities reported a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region on Saturday morning, the final day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Leningrad region governor Aleksandr Drozdenko stated on Telegram that 86 drones were shot down over the region and that combat operations were ongoing. St. Petersburg governor Aleksandr Beglov described the incident as a large-scale attack by military drones and urged residents to stay indoors.

I ask the residents of St. Petersburg to stay at home and not go outside.

Pulkovo International Airport, south of the city, announced a temporary suspension of air traffic without specifying the reason. Authorities also warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet services.

A recurring target during the 'Russian Davos'

The attack mirrors a strike on Wednesday, the forum's opening day, when Ukrainian drones hit an oil facility and a military site near the city. Arriving guests were greeted by a plume of black smoke in the background. The forum, once nicknamed the "Russian Davos," concluded on Saturday, a day after an address by President Vladimir Putin. During his speech on Friday evening, Putin acknowledged a "certain amount of damage" to the economy from such attacks but insisted there were no risks to Russia's economic stability.

These attacks naturally lead to nothing good.

Wider overnight interceptions across Russia

Russia's Defence Ministry announced the interception of 376 Ukrainian drones overnight across the country. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that eight drones were shot down while heading toward the capital. In the southern Krasnodar region, a drone attack sparked a fire covering roughly 5,000 square metres at a fuel depot in Ust-Labinsk, according to local authorities. Reports also indicated strikes on the Baltic Sea port of Kronstadt, used by the Russian navy, and the port of Mariupol in the annexed Donetsk region.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian regions

While Ukraine pressed its drone campaign, Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory killed at least four people over the past day. In the Zaporizhzhia region, governor Ivan Fedorov reported two dead in a Saturday morning strike that also hit critical industrial infrastructure. In the Kherson region, a Russian drone struck a petrol station north of the city of Kherson on Friday, killing one person and wounding seven others. A separate evening drone attack killed a man in a village also north of the city. Rescue workers in Kherson recovered the bodies of three people in their seventies and eighties from homes damaged in an earlier Russian strike.

The number of wounded is still rising.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was targeted nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, one person died and three were wounded in the Kryvyi Rih district, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Ghanza. Ukrainian emergency services also reported drone attacks on the southern city of Odesa, which caused no casualties.

Escalating tit-for-tat drone war

Ukraine has recently intensified its drone strikes on occupied territories and Russia in retaliation for daily Russian bombardments. The attacks have repeatedly targeted Russia's oil industry and military infrastructure. The St. Petersburg forum itself became a focal point, with the contrast between diplomatic networking and air-defence activity underscoring the war's reach into Russia's second-largest city.