Ukraine Claims Drone Strike On Russian Ust-Luga Port

By Daryna Krasnolutska

Aug 24, 2025 (Bloomberg) –Ukraine’s state security service and special forces struck Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga with long-range drones overnight, part of a continued effort to undermine Moscow’s energy infrastructure. 

The UAVs hit the Novatek PJSC gas processing complex, according to preliminary information from a person familiar with the operation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The information can’t be independently verified. 

It was the second attack this year on Ust-Luga, located on the Gulf of Finland over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Kyiv, by Ukraine’s state security forces. 

Fire crews extinguished a blaze at the Novatek terminal ignited by debris from downed drones, and repairs are underway, Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said earlier on Telegram. 

A fire-fighting train was brought in to help battle the blaze, the local railway operator said.  

No casualties were reported, and Drozdenko said oil tanks weren’t damaged. Flights resumed at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport after delays; at least one plane arriving from Egypt was diverted to nearby Tallinn, Estonia. 

In all, some 13 drones were destroyed over Ust-Luga and the surrounding area, among 95 UAVs downed across 14 regions of Russia overnight, according to Russia’s defense ministry. 

Russia attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed drones and decoys overnight, 48 of which were either downed or jammed, Kyiv’s Air Force command said Sunday on Telegram.

Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russia’s energy sector recently as Donald Trump has moved closer to Vladimir Putin’s position than that of his European allies following the Alaskan summit between the US and Russian presidents on Aug 15.

Russian crude oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline were halted again on Friday, just two days after flows resumed following attacks by Ukrainian drones. 

Ust-Luga, about 112 km west of St. Petersburg, is one of Russia’s major commodity export hubs, handling everything from crude oil and LNG to fertilizer. Novatek, Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and leading liquefied natural gas company, operates one of its major terminals in Ust-Luga. 

Debris from a downed drone struck the Kursk nuclear power plant in southern Russia overnight, the Russian state atomic operator Rosatom said on Telegram, damaging a transformer and forcing one reactor to cut output by half.

A small fire was extinguished and there were no casualties, Rosatom said. Radiation levels at the site and the surrounding area didn’t change, it added. 

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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