Ukraine launches blitz on Russia after Putin snubs peace talks offer
Ukraine has hit a Russian military base and other targets near St Petersburg with a bombardment of long-range drones early on Saturday.
It came just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected an offer from his Ukrainian counterpart to meet for peace talks.
Putin says Russia will help find a solution to Iran nuclear issue. AP
Residents of Russia’s second-largest city were told - for the first time since the conflict began in 2022 - not to leave their homes after the large-scale Ukrainian drone attack covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometres.
Russian authorities called the attack “unprecedented”, with Gov Aleksandr Drozdenko of the Leningrad region around the city announcing that more than 140 drones had been shot down.
St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in the barrage.
The attack ignited a fire at an unspecified military facility, causing “insignificant” damage and the evacuation of some residents, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to social media to detail the attack, explaining his forces had hit Russia’s arsenals, a major naval base in Kronstadt and an oil depot - calling it a just response to Russian attacks.
“Russia must end its war and stop its attacks on life,” Zelenskyy said in his post on X.
“Any manifestation of injustice against Ukraine will receive a just response. I thank our warriors for their precision.”
Russia unleashed its own barrage of scores of long-range drones against various targets Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.
The Ukrainian drone strike on St Petersburg was the second such attack in four days.
Smoke from a burning oil facility billowed on Wednesday over the western edge of the city just as the country’s business elites were gathering for the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
A plume of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo) AP Photo/undefined
Russia said that 130 countries were represented this year - with the US sending an official representative for the first time in years, a low-level cultural delegation.
As the forum was due to begin, Zelenskyy had released a letter to Putin suggesting the two meet in person to try to reach a peace agreement.
In the letter he offered an assessment of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, and included some taunts about his age.
At the forum on Friday, Putin rejected the overture, calling the letter “rude” and saying that the war would end only when Russia’s goals were met.
The war has basically deadlocked, with Russian advances stalling again in recent weeks.
Zelenskyy had also said that with President Donald Trump and the US focused on ending the war in Iran, it would be “wrong to simply wait” for Washington to return its focus to Ukraine.
Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 272 strike drones, and air defences shot down 249 of them, the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
