On the night of September 12, more than 30 Ukrainian drones attacked Leningrad region, according to the region’s governor, Alexander Drozdenko. Russia’s largest oil-loading port, Primorsk, was hit.
“The fire on one of the ships is being extinguished. […] There is no threat of flooding or oil spills,” Drozdenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
Also, a fire broke out at one of the port’s pumping stations. Debris from downed drones fell in Vsevolozhsk, Tosno, the villages of Pokrovskoe and Uzmino, and outside settlements in Lomonosovsky district. Preliminary reports indicate no casualties.
Primorsk port is located in the Vyborg district of Leningrad region, 5 km southeast of the town of the same name. It is the terminus of the Baltic Pipeline System and handles exports of crude oil and diesel fuel. The port has 18 storage tanks for crude oil, each with a capacity of 50,000 tons, as well as tanks for light petroleum products and several emergency discharge tanks. It serves tankers of up to 150,000 deadweight tons, with an annual cargo turnover of about 58 million tons.
Due to the Ukrainian drone raid on Leningrad region, Pulkovo Airport activated a plan, which temporarily suspends the reception and departure of aircraft. As a result, 28 flights were delayed, 13 canceled, and 11 diverted to alternate airports. Airport operations were also temporarily suspended overnight in Ivanovo, Pskov, Yaroslavl, and Kaluga, according to Rosaviatsiya.
On Friday morning, the Ministry of Defense of Russian claimed that 28 UAVs were allegedly shot down overnight over Leningrad region.
Russia is now facing a rapidly escalating fuel crisis, which has arisen after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries.
Overnight, a total of 221 UAVs were reportedly shot down or intercepted over Russian territory, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense summary. The largest number of drones—85—were destroyed over Bryansk region. According to the region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz, one drone struck a passenger minibus, injuring five people. Also, 42 drones were shot down over Smolensk region, 28 over Leningrad, 18 over Kaluga, 14 over Novgorod, and nine each over Moscow and Oryol. Attacks also affected Belgorod, Rostov, Tver, Pskov, Tula, and Kursk regions.
This is the first attack of such scale in the past three and a half months.
