Ukrainian drones hit a warehouse for a Russian e-commerce giant near Saint Petersburg early Friday, triggering a fire that sent smoke pouring over the historic city, according to local officials.
Kyiv has targeted Saint Petersburg as it steps up long-range drone strikes on Russian energy, military and logistics sites in recent weeks.
An AFP reporter saw grey smoke rising into the morning sky over high-rise buildings in the city, which is more than 800 kilometers, 500 miles, from the Ukrainian border.
The local governor reported that a warehouse for Wildberries Russia’s largest online retailer often referred to as “Russia’s Amazon” was on fire after the strike.
“Three people were wounded,” Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the surrounding Leningrad region said on social media.
It was the third overnight attack by Ukraine on Wildberries’ sites in the past week. One of the company’s logistics hubs outside Moscow was hit last weekend, killing eight night-shift workers and burning the facility to the ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged after the first attack that the facilities were used to “supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.”
Kyiv calls its campaign “long-range sanctions”, saying the attacks are justified retribution for Russia’s nightly drone and missile barrages of its cities.
The campaign has triggered nationwide fuel shortages and, Kyiv says, dented Russia’s financial war chest.
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Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport suspended flights during the attack, resuming operations around 06:00, 0300 GMT, with around 50 departures disrupted.
Wildberries said two of its warehouses in the city had temporarily halted operations, without giving more details.
Leningrad Governor Drozdenko said 59 Ukrainian drones had been shot down. Russian officials rarely concede that Ukrainian drones hit their targets, typically detailing only the number intercepted or attributing fires to falling debris. Both Russia and Ukraine have escalated their long-range strikes in recent months.
Moscow’s forces have fired increasing numbers of ballistic missiles at Kyiv killing dozens and ripping open apartment blocks.
US President Donald Trump has appeared to give his backing to Ukraine’s counterattacks on Russia calling the strikes “an escalation that can lead to an end”.
Washington’s attempts to mediate a peace deal between warring sides have largely stalled with its own war on Iran raging.
Moscow has also refused to compromise its hardline demands that Ukraine agree to permanently give up territory it still controls and renounce Western military support.
The Kremlin has said the Ukrainian strikes make it more determined to prosecute the war and threatened to seize more land in the country’s east and south.
The United Nations has reported a surge in civilian deaths in 2026, saying June was the deadliest month since mid-2022.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022 though there is no precise toll with neither side routinely revealing the number of their losses.
Zelensky has in the past week replaced both his defense minister and commander-in-chief amid splits in the military hierarchy over a reform drive inside the army.
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