Flames, explosions reported amid large Ukrainian drone attack on St. Petersburg
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Large fires and explosions were reported amid a large-scale overnight attack on St. Petersburg on Oct. 18, multiple monitoring channels reported.
Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported a "massive" Ukrainian drone attack starting at 2:50 a.m. local time.
Eyewitness footage taken by St. Petersburg residents shows what appears to be Ukrainian drones flying through the air and the city's air defense systems at work. Large explosions can be seen lighting up the night sky in the city of 5.6 million, 856 kilometers (532 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, announced that 57 Ukrainian drones were shot down in the region, with debris from a drone damaging 4 cars in a parking lot, and a fire reported.
According to Exilenova+ and Supernova+, the city's port infrastructure, oil tankers, and a data center were targeted in the attack, and large fires appear to be burning at multiple sites.
The St. Petersburg Oil Terminal is located in the city's port and is one of Russia's largest fuel storage and export facilities. It receives and ships petroleum products by river, rail, and motor transit, and boasts a reported throughput of 12.5 million tons per year.
The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the targets or the extent of the damage at this time.
Ukrainian forces have targeted Russia's second-biggest city numerous times throughout the war. On July 4, Ukraine hit and damaged the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in an overnight attack.
As Moscow increases its targeting of Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, Ukraine has continued to hit sites deep in Russia.
Through swarming drone attacks, Ukraine has disrupted air traffic around Moscow and damaged data centers around the capital region in recent days.
