The incident comes amid reports of another Ukrainian drone attack on Russian infrastructure. Telegram photo
No casualties were reported as a result of the fire in the Baltic commercial seaport of Ust-Luga.
Authorities placed the Kingiseppsky district on high alert and evacuated the port terminal. According to district chief Yury Zapalatsky, firefighters were deployed and first responders were dispatched to the scene.
Although the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, residents in neighboring cities said they heard the sound of drones before the explosion. Local newspaper Fontanka reported that around the time of the incident, Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg has adopted a regime called Kovyor (carpet), when aircraft departures and landings are prohibited due to external dangers.
Ust-Luga is the largest port in the Baltic Sea, located a short distance from St. Petersburg is regarding 170 km and 35 km from the Estonian border. There are 12 terminals, designed to handle various products including oil and gas, fertilizer, LNG as well as wood and grain.
Earlier this week, the Russian military blocked an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on St. Petersburg, which according to local media, targeted an oil depot. A propeller-driven plane carrying 3kg of explosives was shot down in the vicinity of the city’s Crude Oil Storage Joint Stock Company.
Ukraine regularly targets infrastructure in border areas with Russia with drone and missile attacks, although the attacks are on targets as far away as the Leningrad Region – regarding 1,000 km from the Ukrainian border – rarer.
On Saturday night and Sunday evening, Russian air defense systems intercepted many UAVs over the Smolensk and Tula regions, but authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of the incident in Ust Luga.
