Ukrainian drones hit Ust-Luga port, 150 shot down over Leningrad region

Drozdenko said air defenses destroyed 150 drones over the region during an attack that lasted about seven hours. The air alert was declared in the Leningrad region at 0:26 and in St. Petersburg at 0:57, and was lifted in both regions by 7:23. The number of downed drones exceeded the previous record of 145 over the region on October 18.

NASA's Firms fire-tracking service recorded several hotspots at the port. Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels Supernova+ and Exilenova+ published video of the fire in Ust-Luga. Drozdenko also reported an emergency shutdown of a transformer substation in Ust-Luga.

Pulkovo Airport was closed because of the attack, with restrictions in force from 0:47 to 7:29. More than 30 flights were delayed on departure and about 20 on arrival. Two aircraft flying to St. Petersburg from Istanbul and Hurghada landed in Helsinki, and another from Hurghada landed in Kaliningrad. Drones heading toward the Leningrad region were shot down over residential buildings in Tver, with no destruction or casualties.

The Smolensk region was also attacked. Governor Vasily Anokhin said air defenses destroyed 37 drones there. In the town of Yartsevo, about 60 kilometers from Smolensk, drone debris hit an apartment building and a flat caught fire. Anokhin reported two deaths and said ten people were rescued from the fire.

Drones also attacked the Republic of Adygea overnight. Falling debris set fire to the roof of a residential apartment building in the aul of Novaya Adygea near Krasnodar. Preliminary reports said there were no casualties.

Ust-Luga is Russia's largest port on the Baltic Sea and the country's second largest after Novorossiysk. Its terminals handle oil, oil products, coal, sulfur, mineral fertilizers, gas condensate, LNG and container cargo. According to Reuters, oil exports through the port in 2025 amounted to about 700,000 barrels per day, and 32.8 million tonnes of oil products were exported.

Drones previously attacked the port on September 1. On August 14 an attack on Ust-Luga caused a fire, and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later confirmed a strike on the Novatek-Ust-Luga complex.

Kryvyi Rih came under a massive attack overnight into Wednesday, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's defense council. He said houses, schools and kindergartens were damaged and part of the city was left without electricity, water and heating.

Trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, which began on Tuesday, are due to continue in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Accounts differ: the Leningrad region governor says the drones were shot down over the region and attributes the hit on the port to "debris." Ukrainian monitoring channels and the NASA Firms service record the fire at the port as the result of an attack. In the Smolensk region the governor reported two deaths, and the independent outlets Astra and The Moscow Times confirmed the information. The figure of 150 downed drones over the Leningrad region was given only by the governor and has no independent confirmation.