A massive black cloud rising above the St. Petersburg skyline from a Ukrainian drone strike set a gloomy tone for the opening of President Vladimir Putin’s annual showcase of Russia’s economic achievements.
With Putin set to arrive Thursday in his hometown that is hosting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Ukrainian attack a day earlier that set an oil terminal ablaze was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimise the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event with no effect on Russian daily life.
The attack, which also targeted a naval base near Russia’s second-largest city on the Gulf of Finland, underlined Ukraine’s growing capability to hit deep inside its neighbor and demonstrated that even the heavily protected city where Putin was born is increasingly vulnerable.
Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian drone strikes.
Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.
Often styled as the Russian version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, it usually draws tens of thousands of delegates from around the world.
