Photo: t.me mchs_official
On the night of March 25, large-scale fires broke out at port facilities in the city of Vyborg and the settlement of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad region, following reported drone strikes that had already forced a halt to oil exports a day earlier. Local authorities confirmed a UAV attack.
Ust-Luga and Vyborg are located approximately 855 km and 960 km from the Ukrainian border, respectively. OSINT analysts reported that the Novatek Ust-Luga facility was hit again — a plant that processes stable gas condensate and ships petroleum products to foreign markets. The Port of Ust-Luga is the largest and deepest in the Baltic Sea, with 13 terminals handling oil, coal, fertilizers, and container cargo. Notably, about half of Russia’s seaborne oil exports pass through this port.
Social media reports indicated that in Vyborg, a building belonging to Agricola JSC caught fire after the drone attack. An FSB building is located roughly 30 meters away. Local residents also reported a cargo ship on fire in the port.
Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said that 56 drones were shot down over the region. According to him, firefighting operations are ongoing in the port area of Ust-Luga, while in Vyborg “the roof of a residential building was damaged.” He claimed there were no casualties.
Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that air defense systems allegedly downed 389 drones overnight across various regions.
Earlier, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck one of Russia’s oldest oil refineries.
