Ukrainian drones strike St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, delaying more than 60 flights
Ukrainian drones targeted the Ust-Luga seaport in Russia’s Leningrad region, prompting widespread disruptions at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, the independent outlet ASTRA reported.
“People are sleeping on mats in the terminals. Pulkovo has reportedly been operating under restrictions for about 18 hours. Thirty-nine flights diverted to alternate airfields; more than 60 flights have been delayed by over two hours,” the outlet said.
Earlier, drones struck Novatek’s terminal in Ust-Luga, Russia’s largest Baltic seaport. Novatek is a natural gas producer. The Ust-Luga facility processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy oil, kerosene (including aviation grade), diesel fractions and fuel oil.
In January 2024, drones also hit Novatek’s site; the company needed a month to restore operations, and a single day of downtime cost an estimated $2 million.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said “debris” fell on the terminal. Local residents posted videos from the scene that included explicit language.
Overnight, Ukrainian drones targeted multiple locations, including:
- Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, where a transformer at Unit 3 was damaged, cutting its output by roughly 50%.
- The area of the Syzran oil refinery, which processes up to 8.9 million tons of crude annually, according to preliminary reports.
- Blasts were also reported in the Belgorod, Tver, Leningrad, Smolensk and Bryansk regions.
On May 7, mass disruptions hit major Russian airports amid previous drone attacks, with passengers waiting for hours, sleeping wherever they could, and aircraft lining up on runways, Russian media reported.
Separately, on the night of August 24, Russian forces launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, 72 Shahed-type attack drones and various decoy drones at Ukrainian cities.