Igor Savchukpolitical expert12:51, 03.06.26
On the night of June 3, 2026, the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), in cooperation with the SSO, SBU, and GUR, conducted a complex deep operation on the territory of the Russian Federation using long-range kamikaze UAVs of the AN-196 “Feb” and FP-1 types. The targets were the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal JSC in St. Petersburg, the Progress military plant in the city of Michurinsk, which specializes in the production of microelectronics for combat aircraft and missile weapons, as well as warships of the Baltic Fleet in the harbor of Kronstadt.
JSC “St. Petersburg Oil Terminal” is a first-rank strategic target, included in the register of natural monopoly entities of the Russian Federation since 2000 (its nominal throughput capacity is 12.5 million tons per year). The terminal acts as the main buffer hub for the export of Russian crude oil and petroleum products to the Baltic region, accumulating volumes in the event of technological or military shutdowns of neighboring nodes in Ust-Luga and Primorsk.
Video footage confirms at least four direct hits by FP-1 UAVs into the tank farm. The drones did not attack adjacent barrels, but were purposefully distributed across geographically distant points of the terminal. As a result: the damage to one tank in a separate isolated segment creates a large-scale fire, which, given the chronic inability of Russian emergency services to localize fires of this class, inevitably leads to the spread of fire to neighboring tanks.
Thus, the maximum destruction rate of the entire hub infrastructure is achieved with minimal expenditure of weapons.
But this blow also has enormous symbolic and geopolitical significance, as it was delivered exactly on the day of the start of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2026).
This event was positioned by the Kremlin as a tool to demonstrate the destruction of international isolation, where foreign delegations arrived for the first time in eight years: representatives of China, a deputy from the pro-Russian German party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) Ulrich Singer, as well as a representative of the US commission appointed by Donald Trump, Rodney Cook. Russian propaganda was preparing a large-scale media performance about the resumption of business dialogue. Instead, the international community and foreign investors received a live broadcast of a burning strategic oil production facility a few kilometers from the Expoforum congress and exhibition center.
Ukrainian drones have clearly demonstrated that investments in Russia are an investment in a dead horse that is unable to protect its own critical infrastructure even in a region sacred to the Russian dictator.
The operation in St. Petersburg achieved absolute tactical surprise: the civil warning system did not work, no air raid warning was issued, and the reaction of the remnants of air defense was limited to chaotic and ineffective machine gun fire.
The success of this raid is a direct result of the critical depletion of the Russian air defense system. Over the past five months, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have systematically destroyed 30 to 40 radar stations (RAS) and anti-aircraft missile systems (AMS) every month. The total enemy losses during this period reached 160–180 air defense units.
Since the radar is a high-tech, man-made product with a long production cycle (the Russian military-industrial complex is capable of producing only a few units per year, unlike Pantsir-type air defense systems, which are produced at a rate of up to two units per month), system holes have formed in the Russian airspace.
Russian specialized resources have officially acknowledged the fact that their air defense has become “focal” and unable to protect even strategic objects.
The absurdity and helplessness of the situation is emphasized by their calls to the owners of oil depots to hire “veterans of the SVO” with machine guns to protect the sky at their own expense, which is de facto a receipt for the complete surrender of the state air defense system.
Another point: after the actual disabling of the terminal in Tuapse and regular strikes on Novorossiysk (Sheskharis), Russia’s Baltic flank has officially become unprotected. Therefore, the next stage in the development of the Ukrainian strategy is the consistent and concentrated destruction of all ten key Russian export ports on the Baltic, Black and Azov seas, including Ust-Luga, Primorsk, Vysotsk, Taman, Kavkaz, Temryuk and Taganrog.
Given that Russian industry is unable to cover even 20% of the current losses of air defense assets, these facilities will be systematically converted into scrap metal. The end result of this systemic campaign will be the complete paralysis of port logistics, the cessation of foreign exchange earnings from oil sales, and subsequently – the transfer of concentrated strikes to the internal energy network of industrial regions, which will lead to the irreversible collapse of the Russian military machine.
(C)UNIAN 2026
DURING THE ATTACK ON PETERSBURG THERE WERE NO AIR RAIDS GOING OFF AND AIR DEFENCE DID NOT WORK.
PLANTS MUST BUY THEIR OWN GUNS!!!!!