A Ukrainian drone reached St Petersburg and struck the Nevskiy Mazut refinery on the very night after mobile mobile internet was switched back on in Northwest Russia.

Previously, for five consecutive nights, the Russian authorities had kept the mobileinbternet network switched off in the Pskov, Leningrad, and Novgorod regions of Russia. The kamikaze drone crash in Russia's northern capital confirms suspicions that the internet shutdowns were a defense tactic against drones, reports the news outlet Agenstvo.Novosti.

St Petersburg's main airport, Pulkovo, introduced restrictions on flights during the nighttime.

The night of January 31st marked the first instance in six days that consistent mobile internet service was available in the northwest regions, a source from one of the telecommunication companies confirmed to Agenstvo.Novosti. From January 25th to 30th, the mobile network in Leningrad, Novgorod, and Pskov regions was disabled nightly from 11 pm to 6 am. Regional authorities attributed the outages to "technical work to recalibrate broadcast frequencies."

However, as reported by the Russian news agency RBC and the newspaper Kommersant, the real reason for the mobile internet suspensions was the counter-efforts against Ukrainian drones. According to Kommersant sources related adjustments were being made to anti-drone systems RBC explained the shutdowns as necessary to secure events in St Petersburg involving Putin and Lukashenko, with one agency source clarifying that 4G signals are used for drone navigation.

Putin and Lukashenko attended events in St Petersburg on January 27th.

Another drone reportedly crashed in the Pskov region in the early hours of January 31st.

The first Ukrainian drone to reach St Petersburg did so on January 18th, exploding at the Petersburg Oil Terminal. On January 21st, another drone fell at the Ust-Luga port within near the gas terminal belonging to the Russian gas producer Novatek.

  War in Ukraine, Russia

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