• A gas export terminal explosion caused a large fire.
• The cause of the fire remains unknown.
• In Donetsk, 25 people were killed and 20 injured by shelling on Sunday.

A gas export terminal near the city of St Petersburg in Russia experienced an explosion, causing a large fire, as reported by officials. The State-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported that firefighters had contained the fire, with no injuries.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, although local media has indicated the presence of drones in the area.

Both Russia and Ukraine have utilized drones in the ongoing conflict, with Ukraine typically not acknowledging such attacks. Russia initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago but has encountered limited progress in recent months.

According to the city’s Russian-installed mayor, Alexei Kulemzin, shelling in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine killed 25 people and injured 20 on Sunday. Kyiv has not commented on the attack.

Regarding the explosion near St Petersburg on Sunday, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko declared a “high alert regime” after the incident at the gas producer Novatek’s terminal in Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland. Novatek later announced the suspension of work at the terminal, attributing the fire to “external influence” without providing further details.

Residents reported hearing a drone followed by multiple explosions at Ust-Luga, near Russia’s border with Estonia. St Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka mentioned the sighting of at least two drones flying toward the city before the fire erupted. There were three large international tankers near the fire, but no damage reports.

The details have not been independently verified by the BBC, and there has been no official comment from Ukrainian authorities. Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian drones in the Smolensk Region, near its border with Ukraine, on Saturday night. It had previously reported shooting down drones over Tula and Oryol, both in western Russia.

On Friday, a fire erupted at an oil depot in Bryansk, southwest Russia, which Moscow attributed to a Ukrainian drone strike, as both Russia and Ukraine continued targeting each other’s energy infrastructure.

The day before, attackers struck a significant oil loading terminal in St Petersburg.

Russia asserted on Thursday that it had captured a village near the devastated city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv has not confirmed this claim.

Ukraine, facing a shortage of ammunition for its army, has issued repeated warnings. Despite this, it has set a goal of domestically producing a million drones this year.

Nearly two years ago, Russia initiated the invasion of its neighbor.

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