Ukraine strikes facilities operated by Russian gas giant near St Petersburg

A Baltic port in the town of Ust-Luga in Leningrad Oblast in Russia's north-west has been hit by Ukrainian drones. The attack has been executed by deep-strike units from the Special Operations Forces (SOF), working with the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Source: Special Operations Forces; Unmanned Systems Forces; Security Service of Ukraine; Ukraine's General Staff

Details: Long-range drones operated by the Special Operations Forces and other services struck Novatek-owned facilities within the port. Novatek is Russia's largest producer of liquefied natural gas and has been under EU and US sanctions since 2014.

The port is located almost 1,000 km from Ukraine's northern border. Russia continues to develop it and plans to turn it into the largest on the Baltic Sea and the second largest in the country overall.

Novatek's fractionation and transshipment complex at the port of Ust-Luga, with a capacity of nearly seven million tonnes per year, processes stable gas condensate into various petroleum products that Russia exports by sea, including via its shadow fleet.

Ukrainian strikes on Russia's maritime and oil and gas infrastructure reduce its economic and logistical capacity to wage war against Ukraine, circumvent international sanctions and replenish its budget.

Background: On the night of 24-25 March, Russia's Leningrad Oblast came under a large-scale drone attack, which caused a fire to break out on the territory of the port of Ust-Luga.

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