Ukrainian drones attack Russian oil depots in St. Petersburg and Bryansk region in Russia
Kyiv, Ukraine (Svidomi) — On January 18, Ukrainian-made drones reached St. Petersburg for the first time. Drone attacks on Russian oil depots continue for two days in a row.
On January 18, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that Russian air defence had allegedly shot down drones in the Moscow and Leningrad regions. This was the first drone attack in the Leningrad region.
The Leningrad region is located in the north of Russia. It is washed by the Baltic Sea and borders Finland. The city of St. Petersburg, the second most important political, economic, social and cultural centre of Russia after Moscow, is located there. The distance to Ukraine is over a thousand kilometres.
One drone fell on the territory of a St. Petersburg oil terminal and exploded, Russian Telegram channels reported.
The Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine confirmed the attacks and said that the drones were Ukrainian-made.
"We can produce everything from small FPV drones for $350 per unit to the one that flew to St Petersburg last night (18 January — ed.). It was made in Ukraine, and we hit the target. This thing flew 1,250 kilometres," said Oleksandr Kamyshin during one of the panel discussions at the Davos Security Forum.
On January 19, the governor of Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine to the north, said that a Ukrainian drone had attempted to attack an oil depot in the town of Klintsy.
A drone was turned off by Russian electronic warfare equipment. However, the drone still managed to drop a munition on the oil depot, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz wrote on his Telegram channel. Local Russian channels are posting videos of the burning oil depot.
The attack on the oil depot in the Bryansk region was a special operation by Ukrainian intelligence, the sources in Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate told the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske.
Ukraine is working to increase its own arms production. Ukraine plans to produce one million drones by 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in December.
