Blackouts in Russia after huge explosions as ‘drone strike targets warehouse’ | World | News
Huge explosions have been heard in the Russian city of St Petersburg in a potential Ukrainian drone strike on a weapons warehouse.
The explosions, which could be heard for 30-40 minutes, were captured on doorbell cameras and by people on the ground.
Emergency crews have been seen rushing to the scene, but there has been no official comment from Russian or Ukrainian authorities.
The strikes are believed to have begun around 7am local time and have left around 300 buildings without electricity in the Primorsky and Vyborgsky district.
Local media outlet Fontanka has reported that a Ukrainian drone was shot down by Russian air defence systems on the outskirts of the city.
It remains unclear whether any civilian casualties have been sustained.
Ukraine has routinely attempted to target Russian cities with in a 1,000km direct range of its territory, but the attack on St Peterburg shows an enhanced capability to strike deeper into Russia with drones.
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has been limited in its ability to target Russian cities and infrastructure.
Missiles provided to the country by NATO nations have been given with the strict condition that they are used in a defensive capacity, restricting Ukraine from using them to strike targets deep inside Russia.
It is believed that Ukraine’s long-range drone strategy, which has limited impact on the ground, is an attempt to demonstrate to the West that their fears over the conflict escalating by striking inside Russia are exaggerated.
Ukrainian president Vlodymyr Zelensky has lobbied the US, UK and France for months to ease these restrictions to allow them to target Russian logistic chains supplying the battlefield which can lie hundreds of kilometres behind the frontline.
Zelensky has also recently called for the Russian people to “feel the effects of the conflict” to increase domestic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
