Drones Strike Russia's Ust-Luga Port in Leningrad Region, Fire Breaks Out

In brief

• Drones struck the Ust-Luga port zone in Russia's Leningrad region overnight into 11 November, starting a fire.
• Three workers were injured and a transformer substation was shut down in an emergency.
• Regional officials reported 150 drones intercepted, while Pulkovo airport restricted flights.

Fire at Ust-Luga port after overnight drone strike

The Leningrad region governor, Oleksandr Drozdenko, said drones hit the port zone at Ust-Luga in the Kingisepp district during the night into 11 November. The strikes started a fire, and three port workers were hurt. He said none of the injured were in life-threatening condition (У Росії дрони атакували стратегічний порт Усть-Луга: спалахнула пожежа – Suspilne) (Украина атаковала порт Усть-Луга в Ленинградской области. В Смоленской области «обломки дронов» попали в жилой дом, погибли два человека – Meduza) (Украина атаковала порт Усть-Луга в Ленинградской области РФ. Начался пожар – Reform.news) (Українські дрони ударили по порту Усть-Луга в Ленінградській області – UNIAN).

Power outage and regional air disruption

The governor also reported an emergency shutdown of a transformer substation in Ust-Luga. Local flight operations were affected: Pulkovo airport in Saint Petersburg restricted arrivals and departures, and two passenger flights bound for the city were diverted to Helsinki (У Ленінградській області після атаки дронів спалахнула пожежа в стратегічному порту Росії – Espreso). By morning, around 30 departures from Pulkovo were delayed.

Scale of the attack

Regional officials gave differing counts of intercepted drones. Early figures were 42, later updated to 92 and then 150 across the Leningrad region. Ukrainian and Russian-language outlets reported the same overnight wave, and some noted that drone warnings were also issued in parts of Latvia and Lithuania.

Port's role

Ust-Luga is one of Russia's largest commercial ports on the Baltic Sea, located in the Gulf of Finland roughly 100 to 150 kilometres from Saint Petersburg. It handles crude oil, petroleum products, coal, sulphur, fertilisers, gas condensate, liquefied natural gas and container cargo. Its exports make it an important revenue point for the Russian state budget (Палає один із найбільших портів Росії на Балтиці: після удару дронів над Усть-Лугою здійнялася заграва – TSN).

What is still unclear

OSINT channels and social media videos showed smoke and a glow over the port, and some channels claimed loading operations had stopped. Those claims have not been confirmed by officials (Беспилотники атаковали порт Усть-Луга под Петербургом: на объекте вспыхнул пожар – NV). Russian authorities have not yet released a full account of damage to the terminal.

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