June 3 (Reuters) – Russia has downed 30 drones over the Leningrad region northwest of Moscow and continues to repel the attacks, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said, as a major annual economic forum was about to start.
The Leningrad region, home to crucial energy export infrastructure and a major oil refinery, is hosting its fifth wartime economic conference, President Vladimir Putin’s “Russian Davos”, in St. Petersburg from Wednesday.
The investment forum, the fifth since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, opens just hours after a deadly drone and missile attack on Kyiv which Russia said was in response to a deadly attack on a dormitory in Russian-controlled Luhansk.
In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-biggest city and Putin’s hometown, Pulkovo airport was temporarily restricting flights, Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine has recently stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure as it tries to deprive Moscow from revenues. On Tuesday, it hit the Ilsky export oil refinery in Russia’s south with drones.
Another 13 drones heading to Moscow were downed in the early hours of Wednesday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. In Russia’s central Tambov region, outbuildings at an industrial facility in the city of Michurisk were damaged, governor said on Telegram.
Reuters could not independently verify all the reports.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Lincoln Feast.)
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