Ukraine attacks St Petersburg, says Russian seizure of key town a ‘lie’

MOSCOW - Russia said on July 4 that Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal in Saint Petersburg, struck a port near Finland and fell on the historical Peterhof complex without causing damage.

Kyiv’s barrage on Russia’s second city – President Vladimir Putin’s hometown – came as Kyiv disputed that Moscow had gained control over a key town in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow said almost 400 Ukrainian drones attacked over a dozen Russian regions, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg, since the evening of July 3, in an attack that came after a Russian strike on Kyiv this week killed 30 people.

They also hit hours after a Russian attack on the centre of the Ukrainian city of Sumy killed four people, including a child, according to Kyiv.

Moscow said it had seized the key town of Kostyantynivka in the east, but Zelensky called the claim a “lie”, with Kyiv’s army saying fighting was ongoing.

Zelensky also claimed Kyiv struck the Kronstadt naval base in Saint Petersburg.

Ukraine has been increasing strikes on Russian territory – hitting as far as the Urals far away from the front line – in recent months, in retaliation for Moscow’s dragging offensive.

It is also a bid to bring Russia to the negotiating table, almost 4.5 years into its offensive that turned into Europe’s worst war since WWII.

Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said the port of Vysotsk, near the border with NATO-member Finland, had been hit.

“Debris has been reported in the area of the port of Vysotsk,” Drozdenko said on social media early on July 4, while saying the “attack was still being repelled”.

Saint Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said drones hit “the area of an oil terminal in the Kirovsk district” of Saint Petersburg.

“Air defence forces shot down 72 drones, one of which crashed in Peterhof. There were no casualties or damage,” he added.

The Peterhof palace is a giant estate of gardens and a palace built in the 18th century under Russian Tsar Peter I.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defence had shot down 62 drones headed for the Russian capital.

Moscow said one person was killed in the border Bryansk region and another in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Authorities in the border Belgorod region said “infrastructure facilities” had been damaged by the attacks, leading to “disruptions to electricity and water supply”.

Ukraine’s increasing drone strikes on Russian cities have affected ordinary life in Russia more than at any other point during the conflict.

In Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, there were delays at the airport taking passengers to mainland Russia due to the strikes, according to an AFP reporter there.

Several Russian regions have also experienced fuel shortages, causing hours-long queues for petrol, due to Ukraine hitting oil and fuel depots.

On July 3, Putin, wearing a military uniform, had thanked troops for seizing Kostyantynivka, a town with a pre-war population of 78,000 that Moscow has been trying to take control over for months.

But Kyiv’s army spokesman, Andriy Kovalyov, said on July 4 that “Ukrainian defenders continue to hold their positions along the designated defensive lines”.

He admitted the situation was “difficult” and that small groups of Russian troops have been infiltrating the town but insisted that fighting was ongoing.

Russia’s defence ministry, however, said on July 4 troops had “liberated” the city.

Zelensky called the claim “just another Russian lie”.

“If Kostyantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media.

Putin has repeatedly turned down talks with Zelensky to end more than four years of war, saying Moscow intends to capture the rest of eastern Ukraine by force. AFP