Drones Humiliate Russia at Flagship St Petersburg Summit

(ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA) – A Ukrainian drone strike has set a Russian naval corvette ablaze in a St Petersburg dry dock, just 17 kilometres from the Kremlin’s flagship International Economic Forum, according to footage verified on 4 June.

The attack on the Baltic Fleet vessel and simultaneous explosions at a nearby fuel depot shattered any illusion of normality at an event intended to showcase Russian economic resilience. Delegates at the forum, including an American contingent, could reportedly see and hear the drones overhead before witnessing the failure of Russian air defence systems to intercept them.

Russian blogger and commentator Yevgeni Golman delivered a scathing assessment of the spectacle in a video that has since circulated widely. Speaking with unusual candour for a public figure in Russia, Golman said, “It’s just a greeting to all those pricks at the SPIEF.”

He added, “What are you talking about when your ship is on fire five clicks from the forum? When your St Petersburg fuel depot on the port area is burning while you’re talking about economic growth.” Golman questioned the very premise of the gathering, asking, “What kind of economy are you even gathered there to talk about?” and lamented that Russia could “only sell oil, gas, and timber,” adding, “We’re not really producing anything complicated.”

A separate Russian blogger, Roman Alina, echoed the humiliation in a post, writing, “Our officials are making big claims, but the enemy says nothing. Simply silently delivering very sensitive blows both to actual targets and to the government image.”

The warship struck has been identified as a corvette commissioned into the Russian Navy on 14 May 2013, roughly half a year before Russia initiated its military operations in eastern Ukraine. Two drones slammed into the vessel in succession, collapsing its communication tower and leaving it burning heavily. Analysts assess the ship as likely unsalvageable. One Russian sailor was reported killed.

The spectacle was made more bizarre by the presence of the American actor Steven Seagal at the forum. Separately, the Governor of occupied Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, acknowledged on 3 June that a Ukrainian naval drone had destroyed an FSB border guard vessel in the Sea of Azov near the Kerch Bridge. Three crew members were on the vessel’s superstructure at the moment of impact. The vessel’s automated cannon systems failed to engage the slow, loud drone.

The attacks extended beyond St Petersburg. In occupied Crimea, residents are confronting acute fuel shortages reminiscent of the Soviet era. A local woman described how her husband and his friends had queued for petrol since 6:00 am. By midday, 50 people remained ahead of them and kilometre long queues had formed behind, which she said were “not moving at all.”

Long convoys of vehicles have been filmed snaking along the Simferopol highway, while footage from 4 June showed Ukrainian operators from the 413th “Raid” unit striking two Russian locomotives near Dzhankoi, disrupting fuel supply trains. The combination of drone strikes on vessels, fuel depots, and rail logistics has created a strategic fuel deficit in the occupied peninsula.