Irina Pogorelaya09:09, 21.01.24

Drone attacks were observed throughout the night in several Russian regions.

In the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation , a large gas terminal of the Novatek company, which belongs to a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gennady Timchenko, caught fire .

As journalist Denis Kazansky noted , the fire started due to the arrival of a drone.

The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko , reported that a fire occurred in the port of Ust-Luga, the personnel were evacuated, but the Russian official did not specify the cause of the incident.

At the same time, the Russian telegram channel “Caution, News” reported that residents of Kingisepp heard the sounds of flying drones. And the local St. Petersburg publication Fontanka, citing its own sources, reported that on the night of January 21, shortly before the fire in Ust-Luga, Russian air defense forces “spotted two UAVs flying towards St. Petersburg.”

The publication added that when approaching the city, the drones changed course and flew towards the Kingisepp district and attacked the Novatek gas storage facility.

At the same time, neither the regional authorities nor the Russian Ministry of Defense have yet named the cause of the emergency.

Already in the morning, Drozdenko said that rescuers reported that the fire had been localized at the Novatek terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. “The fire level has been downgraded to level 2,” he wrote.

Fire at a gas terminal near St. Petersburg

Let us note that on the night of January 21, there were several more drone attacks on Russian regions. Thus, late yesterday evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian “aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle” over the Oryol region. They said that the drone was targeting certain objects in the region, but did not specify which ones.

And closer to night, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that air defense systems had shot down another Ukrainian drone, but this time over the Smolensk region. And already at night, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported an alleged second drone attack on the region and announced the destruction of three drones.

The Smolensk region is located west of Moscow and borders the territory of Belarus.

In addition, at night the authorities of the Tula region reported that the region was attacked by Ukrainian drones. Local public pages posted videos showing a flash in Tula followed by a strong explosion.

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory

For the first time, the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation was attacked by Ukrainian drones on January 18. Until now, the northernmost and most distant point from Ukraine was officially called the Pskov region. Later it became known that this attack was a special operation  of the Main Intelligence Directorate  of the Ministry of Defense.

(C)UNIAN 2024