Satellite images have captured thick plumes of smoke rising from a Russian warship at the Kronstadt naval base near St Petersburg after Ukrainian drones struck Putin’s home city in one of the most embarrassing and strategically significant attacks of the conflict — timed to land just hours before dignitaries gathered for Russia’s own version of the Davos economic forum.
The corvette Boyky, which had been engaged in escorting Russia’s shadow fleet and was undergoing scheduled repairs at the time, was struck by at least two Ukrainian drones in the assault, with a fire subsequently breaking out aboard the vessel. Satellite imagery, reported by The Sun, shows heavy smoke visible from several miles away as it poured into the air above the stricken warship.
Russian pro-war Telegram channel Rybar was blunt in its assessment of how the attack had been allowed to succeed. “Why the corvette was in such a position without protection is a question with an asterisk,” the channel wrote. “The fleet is extremely vulnerable to Ukrainian raids.” Rybar said the strike had almost certainly been coordinated using a Starlink satellite terminal, with a relay drone flying through Baltic airspace into international waters in the Gulf of Finland to transmit targeting signals to the strike drones. “The scheme is already well established,” the channel noted.
The attack on the Boyky was only part of a broader wave of drone strikes that hit St Petersburg in the early hours of Wednesday. Energy and military sites across the city were struck, with dramatic footage showing fireballs erupting at the St Petersburg Oil Terminal — one of Russia’s largest fuel storage and export facilities. In scenes that drew widespread disbelief online, separate video showed Russian police officers attempting to shoot down incoming Ukrainian drones with rifles from the street, with passersby filming on their phones as the city came under attack.
British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore described the footage as a defining image of the conflict. “This footage is quite extraordinary,” he wrote on X. “Piter, the capital of Peter the Great and Putin, under Ukrainian drone attack with ordinary policemen firing skywards — Dad’s army style — and passersby filming on phones. This is our world now. This is war 2026.”
St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov confirmed that “infrastructure objects” had been attacked in three districts of the city, with air defences reporting 59 Ukrainian drones shot down. “Several facilities have been damaged. Clean-up operations are currently underway,” he said. “Several people have been injured. There have been no fatalities.”
The timing of the strikes was pointed. St Petersburg hosts Russia’s annual economic forum — designed by the Kremlin as a showcase of international investment and a counterpart to the World Economic Forum in Davos — with this year’s edition drawing prominent guests including Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. The sight of Ukraine’s drones over Putin’s home city on the eve of the gathering was widely interpreted as a deliberate statement.
The escalation comes as US-brokered peace talks remain deadlocked. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova blamed Washington’s distraction on its conflict with Iran, saying “unfortunately, they are paying less attention” to the Ukraine negotiations, while also accusing European nations of “arming itself to the teeth” and promoting war on the continent.
