Russia’s largest oil port was crippled in a massive air attack by Ukrainian drones, officials said early Monday as images showed huge balls of fire.
Several strikes blew up huge swathes of the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk — which processes at least a million barrels of oil per day in a market already crippled with rising prices over the Iran war.
Drones struck fuel storage tanks at the port — home to Russia’s clandestine network of so-called “shadow ships” — with satellite pictures showing smoke rising from several areas of the key terminal.
The port was struck as Russian defense systems desperately managed to intercept more than 70 other drones above Leningrad overnight, according to the area’s governor, Alexander Drozdenko.
It’s not the first time Ukraine has targeted Primorsk, located 62 miles from St. Petersburg. The port came under a barrage of drone fire in September, which impacted oil loading operations.
Ukraine ramped up its attacks against Russian infrastructure this weekend.
The Ust-Luga port was targeted Sunday and operations were temporarily suspended, according to Reuters. It’s not clear if the port, also located in the Baltic region, suffered any substantial damage.
The attack came hours after a southwestern Russian oil refinery was targeted, according to Bloomberg.
Last week, Ukraine launched almost 300 drones at Russia in one of its largest barrages since the war began, targeting an oil depot in Saratov, which processes almost 5 million tons of oil a year.
The price of Russian Urals oil, which has been heavily shunned by West, has surged in recent weeks — from $45 a barrel to $76 — and this comes as the war in Iran rages.
With Post wires
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