NATO Sees No Issue With Ukraine Striking St Petersburg During Putin’s Economic Forum, Rutte Says

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that the alliance sees no issue with Ukraine’s drone strikes on St. Petersburg, even as the city launches Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), European Pravda reported on June 3.

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Rutte drew a parallel between the disruption of the economic showcase and Russia’s highly managed May 9 Victory Day parade.

Rutte noted that the Ukrainian military has forced significant operational adaptations on Moscow, recalling a previous security window where Zelenskyy guaranteed safety for the Red Square parade following partner requests—an event Putin abruptly concluded in 1 hour and 55 minutes to minimize aerial exposure. The Secretary General emphasized that Russia remains the sole aggressor in the war, validating Ukraine’s defensive right to strike assets inside Russian territory.

“Ukraine has made such progress that Putin can only hold a parade on May 9 thanks to an official decree from this president,” he said, pointing at Zelenskyy afterwards, European Pravda wrote.

Days before the parade, Zelenskyy had signed an official decree temporarily excluding Moscow’s Red Square from the military’s weapons deployment plan to permit Russia’s annual Victory Day parade. Authorized for humanitarian purposes during negotiations for a three-day truce, Zelenskyy emphasized that protecting the lives of 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners slated for exchange under the agreement took complete precedence over the symbolic value of targeting the Kremlin’s heavily downscaled ceremony.

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Zelenskyy clarified that the long-range strikes do not track Putin’s specific personal itinerary or his scheduled attendance at the economic forum in the coming days. The Ukrainian President stated that the military is delivering proportional responses to recent massive Russian bombardments of Ukraine.

“A day ago, there was a massive attack, and we responded accordingly. But we are targeting only oil refineries and military targets—legitimate targets. That is what Ukraine is doing,” he said, according to European Pravda.

Overnight on June 3, Ukrainian long-range drones struck the JSC Petersburg Oil Terminal—a strategically vital 37-hectare facility with an annual throughput capacity of 12.5 million tons—setting fuel tanks ablaze right as the city launched the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Zelenskyy confirmed the strike, stating that Ukrainian forces hit the oil terminal alongside military targets at the Kronstadt naval base and an arms manufacturing enterprise in the Tambov region.

The economic and logistical fallout from these targeted infrastructure hits has heavily disrupted the regional transport network, leading to immediate flight cancellations at Pulkovo Airport and compounding the fuel shortages observed throughout western Russia.

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