Ukraine launched a series of long-range drone strikes on St Petersburg and surrounding military targets on Wednesday, hitting an oil terminal and a £120 million naval corvette at the Kronstadt naval base, as Vladimir Putin prepared to address the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The attacks, carried out by Ukraine's domestically produced 'Liutyi' (Fierce) drones, sent a column of smoke over the historic city and prompted panic among residents who had considered themselves safe at a distance of some 600 miles from the front line, according to the source report.

The £120 million corvette burning in Kronstadt

Among the most dramatic losses was a naval corvette destroyed at the Kronstadt military base, which houses Russia's Baltic Fleet. The vessel, valued at roughly £120 million, was ripped apart in the strike, according to the source. The attack on Kronstadt, a fortified island west of St Petersburg, underlines Ukraine's growing ability to hit high-value military assets deep inside Russian territory. Hours earlier, the St Petersburg oil terminal had gone up in flames,choking the city with smoke as delegates from more than 130 countries gathered for the forum under the ironic slogan 'the pathway to a stable future'.

Vika's message: 'This is the taste of our own medicine'

As the drones buzzed overhead, residents took to messaging apps to share their fear. Vika, 45, a friend of the source's reporter, wrote: 'We've been bombed for the last two hours… I found my son with a pillow covering his head to make it go away. What can I say? This is the taste of our own medicine.' Another resident described 'panic, terror' and the surprise that a city so far from Ukraine could be vulnerable. One woman was cut by glass splinters from an explosion hundreds of yards away while cowering in her bathroom. No casualties were reported, and the source noted that Ukraine deliberately targeted military infrastructure, unlike Russian strikes that often hit civilian areas.

Tuapse pollution: oil-smeared bathers and Putin's Gelendzhik palace

The drone campaign has also crippled Russian oil refineries across the country. According to the source, a strike on a facility in Feodosia, Russian-occupied Crimea, and another in Tuapse have caused catastrophic pollution along the Black Sea coast.. Bathers emerge from the water with skin smeared in oil, and the residue has even reached the beaches near Putin's £1 billion clifftop palace at Gelendzhik—a bunker-equipped lair originally designed with a striptease stage. Holidaymaker Tatiana, 37, told the source: 'My children's skin is patched in black from playing on the beach. Yet they tell us it's safe as the summer begins.' The pollution underscores the economic and environmental toll of Ukraine's strategy to degrade Russia's energy infrastructure.

What remains unclear about Ukraine's target selection

The source report does not specify whether the St Petersburg strikes were intended solely as a symbolic humiliation of Putin or part of a broader campaign to paralyse Russia's fuel supply lines. It also leaves open the question of how many Liutyi drones were used,and what role Western-supplied intelligence or technology played in the precision of the attacks. Ukraine's own statements have been guarded, and Russia's state media has downplayed the damage, making independent verification difficult.. The source notes that Russia's internet and broadcast crackdowns have limited public awareness, but the despair among those who witnessed the attacks is increasingly evident.