Ukraine fires wave of drones at Russia on last day of key forum

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rejected his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a meeting, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5.

ST PETERSBURG - Ukraine fired hundreds of drones at Russia early on June 6, leaving one person dead and setting an oil depot ablaze on the final day of the country’s flagship economic forum in St Petersburg, officials said.

Many of the drones targeted St Petersburg itself, the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week, although the authorities reported no major damage.

Moscow and Kyiv have intensified drone strikes on each other in recent months as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fifth year, remain stalled over the conflict in the Middle East.

The strikes come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a meeting, drawing criticism from Zelensky, who accused him of “choosing war again”.

Russian air defences intercepted a total of 376 drones “over Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Leningrad, Novgorod, Oryol, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, and Tula regions, Moscow region, Crimea Republic, Abkhazia Republic, and over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas”, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

More than 140 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, which surrounds St Petersburg, Leningrad governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.

St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov issued a rare call for residents to stay indoors during the attack.

“Russian air defences prevented any damage. The condition of the three injured is assessed as minor and they have been discharged,” he said.

The attacks sparked a fire at an oil depot in the southern town of Ust-Labinsk, while drone debris killed a man in the western Tver region, according to local officials.

Zelensky described the strikes as a “just response” to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting. That is why Ukrainian sanctions against this aggression are working,” he said on social media platform X.

“Any manifestation of injustice against Ukraine will receive a just response.”

The attacks come a day after Putin rejected a meeting with Zelensky.

Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum – an event dubbed “Russia’s Davos” – Putin said he saw “no point” in meeting the Ukrainian leader until a possible peace deal had been agreed.

Zelensky hit back, saying the Russian leader was “weak” and “choosing war again”.

On June 6, Ukraine’s Foreign Minis