Drone debris damages Russia’s Ust-Luga, Vysotsk ports

MOSCOW: Ukrainian drone attacks on Monday damaged the Baltic Sea ports of Vysotsk and Ust-Luga, a major oil exporting outlet, and caused a power blackout in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, authorities said.

Local governor Alexander Drozdenko said on the Telegram messaging app that 56 Ukrainian drones have been shot down in recent attacks in the region.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest outlets for exporting oil and other products.

Ukraine has previously targeted the port as well as other Russian energy targets in efforts to undermine Moscow’s war efforts.

Exports from the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, along with the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk reached nearly a record-high 3 million barrels per day in June, according to sources.

The spate of Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries in Russia has led to fuel shortages, price spikes and long queues at fuel filling stations.

Several other Russian and Russian-controlled regions also reported Ukrainian attacks on Monday.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said a woman was killed in the city of Kerch due to a drone strike.

The authorities in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city and home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, reported a power blackout due to a Ukrainian attack. They later said power supplies to households had been restored.

Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of Kaluga region, some 190km south of Moscow, said drones hit an industrial site in the Dzerzhinsky district, causing a fire.

The governor of the Yaroslavl region, 270km north-east of Moscow, said two people were injured by shrapnel following a drone attack, adding some 70 drones were shot down overnight.