Russia’s Biggest Oil Export Terminal Hit by Drone Strike in Leningrad Region, Fires Reported

Drones struck Russia’s largest oil export terminal on the Baltic Sea overnight, sparking fires on a vessel and at a pumping station in the port of Primorsk in the Leningrad region, according to regional governor Alexander Drozdenko on September 12.

“In the port of Primorsk, a fire broke out on one of the vessels. The fire suppression system was activated,” Drozdenko wrote on Telegram. He later said the blaze on the ship had been fully extinguished.

Half an hour later, the governor also reported a second fire at a pumping station in the same port, which was brought under control.

Residents of the Leningrad region and nearby St. Petersburg said they continued to hear explosions into the morning, describing it as one of the largest drone attacks on the area since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed 28 drones were shot down overnight in the Leningrad region, while debris reportedly fell in the towns of Vsevolozhsk and Tosno, as well as in villages including Pokrovskoye and Uzmino. Officials said no casualties were reported.

Drozdenko emphasized there was “no threat of flooding or oil spills” at the Primorsk terminal after the fires were extinguished. Photographs published by local media showed thick smoke rising from the port area.

Earlier, a major fire broke out at a fuel depot in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk following the use of an unknown weapon.

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