Ukrainian drone attack causes fire in Russian oil port

Uthe attack by Ukrainian drones today caused a fire at the Russian port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea, a site that has already been attacked on several occasions, the governor of Leningrad (northwest) said.

“ The first information indicates that a drone attack hit the Ust-Luga port zone, causing a fire,” Alexander Drozdenko said on the Telegram message platform.

The port, located in the Gulf of Finland, is a key infrastructure for Russian gas, oil, fertilizer and coal exports.

The governor reported that, in total, 146 drones were neutralized in the Leningrad region overnight, adding that “combat operations continue.”.

Pulkovo Airport, which serves St. Petersburg and the surrounding region, now registered more than 18 flights cancelled or delayed, according to the infrastructure portal on the Internet.

In the last 18 months, Ukraine has intensified drone attacks against the Russian energy sector, seeking to reduce the revenues of the Kremlin and undermine its ability to finance the war.

For its part, Kiev denounces the Russian attacks on its own energy network, which raise fears of a new winter without heating, piped water or electricity to millions of Ukrainians.

The attacks take place at a time when delegations from Ukraine and Russia hold negotiations in Abu Dhabi, with US mediation, in an attempt to find a solution to the conflict that has been going on since 2022.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared himself “satisfied” with the changes in the approach of US mediators.

“I see changes. I'm very pleased with what I hear. We shall see what we can do,” Zelensky told the press during a visit to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen.

Zelensky admitted that a “great” exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Kiev was mentioned during negotiations in Abu Dhabi.

“ We discussed the possibility of an exchange [of prisoners of war]. I want to make an exchange of a thousand [prisoners] for a thousand, or even 1,500 for 1,500. Some kind of big trade. It is with this agenda that Americans will go to Russia,” Zelensky said.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, with the argument of protecting the pro-Russian separatist minorities in the east and “denazifying” the neighbouring country, independent since 1991 – after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union – and which has been moving away from Moscow’s space of influence and approaching Europe and the West.

At diplomatic level, Russia has so far rejected any prolonged ceasefire and demands, in order to put an end to the conflict, that Ukraine give it at least four regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia – in addition to the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, and forever renounce membership of NATO (Organisation of the Atlantic-North Treaty, Western Defence Block).