St. Petersburg Oil Terminal hit in major Ukrainian attack day after Russia's mass strike on Kyiv

Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

The St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in Russia's Leningrad Oblast came under fire in the early hours of June 3, with eyewitnesses reporting large-scale explosions and fires at the site.

The attack coincided with the beginning of the 2026 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual conference of business leaders and government officials hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

St. Petersburg residents posted photos and video footage of loud explosions and a massive fire as the city came under attack by Ukrainian drones the morning of June 3. The images show black smoke rising over the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal.

An analysis by the Russian independent Telegram news channel Astra concluded that drones struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, causing a fire.

The oil terminal, located on the Gulf of Finland at the city's Great Port of St. Petersburg, is one of Russia's largest fuel storage and export facilities. It receives and ships petroleum products river, rail, and motor transit, and boasts a reported throughput of 12.5 million tons per year.

Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko reported that 30 drones were shot down over the region on June 3, but did not comment on the fires at the port.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports at the time of publication.

The extent of the damage to the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal is not yet known. Previously, in January 2024, a Ukrainian drone was reportedly shot down over the facility, sparking a fire.  

In September 2025, Ukrainian forces struck Leningrad Oblast's Primorsk, Russia's largest oil-loading port on the Baltic Sea, forcing the facility to suspend operations. Primorsk lies roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) from St. Petersburg

The new attack on St. Petersburg Oil Terminal comes one day after Russia launched a devastating mass missile and drone strike against Kyiv, Dnipro, and other Ukrainian cities. The large-scale attack killed at least 23 people, including two children, and injured over 100 others.

The strike came after days of tense anticipation, as the Ukrainian government warned residents that Moscow was planning to mount another massive aerial assault.

Russia's increasing reliance on mass attacks targeting civilians is a result of the Russian military's stagnating advance on the front lines. In May 2026, Russia lost more territory than it occupied for the first time since 2023.

At the same time, Ukraine's capacity to strike Russian military and industrial assets deep within the country has expanded, changing the stakes of the war for everyday Russians as well as the Kremlin's elite.

Ukraine launched its latest barrage of drones at St. Petersburg on the same day that Putin was set to commence his fifth wartime St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — the so-called "Russian Davos" where representatives from over 130 countries and territories convene for a three-day global business event.

A member of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is set to appear at the forum, the first known attendance at the event by an American official in several years.

Putin has used the forum as a platform to project economic resilience and signal that Russia remains open for business despite Western sanctions and diplomatic isolation in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

During last year's forum speech, Putin proclaimed that "all of Ukraine" belonged to Russia.

This year's forum will begin under a cloud of smoke and ash, as Ukraine proves its ability to hamper Russia's economy — and humiliate its leader — with sanctions in the form of long-range strikes.