Ukraine strikes Russian oil refinery on first day of ‘Putin’s Davos’

The people of St Petersburg woke up to see a plume of smoke rising over the city after Ukraine launched a drone strike overnight.

The city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, said ‘infrastructure objects’ in three districts of the city had been hit on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drones had struck several ‘military targets’, including the Petersburg Oil Terminal ‘which serves the war’ and ‘an enterprise in the Tambov region involved in the production of Russian weapons’.

In a post to X, he said: ‘Important facilities on Russian territory were hit last night.

‘I thank our warriors for their precision. Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer. Glory to Ukraine!’

Beglov confirmed in a post on Telegram that clean-up efforts are underway and that several people had been injured, but there were no fatalities as a result of last night’s strike.

The attack comes ahead of what was meant to be a big day for the city for very different reasons. Russia’s annual economic forum begins today, which Russian president Vladimir Putin will attend.

The St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) has been held annually since 1997, and under the auspices of the Russian president since 2006.

The event attracts around 10,000 attendees from 120 countries from across the business sector, earning it comparisons with the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Its website describes it as ‘one of the largest and most significant business events in the world’.

The strikes came a day after Russia unleashed its own latest spate of drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv. 

At least 23 people were killed and 138 were injured, authorities said on Tuesday.

Zelensky warned in his daily address that the Kremlin is already planning its next strike and called on Ukraine’s allies to introduce harsher sanctions on Russia to undercut its ability to produce weapons and missiles.

But even without these increased sanctions, Putin’s own officials have reportedly warned him that he is running out of money.

Russia’s central bank and other leading finance experts in the country are understood to have urged the despot to rein in defence spending as the bill becomes ‘unsustainable’.

The Kremlin boss is said to have told financial leaders to save elsewhere so he can continue to fund his costly war.