Russia’s strategic Baltic port of Ust-Luga came under another wave of heavy attacks by Ukrainian drones today, the fifth such strike in 10 days to hit that port’s oil storage and other facilities, setting off huge fires. Russia’s other large Baltic port, at Primorsk, was also hit by drones in the same period. Russian suspicions that the drones took a circuitous route through European airspace, to avoid being detected and shot down, were amplified by crashes of Ukrainian drones in all three Baltic states and Finland during the past week.
Together, Ust-Luga and Primorsk account for the shipping of 35 to 40 percent of Russia’s oil exports. Ust-Luga, inaugurated by President Putin in 2001, is a huge complex, including separate terminals for natural gas, coal, and container ships as well as processing plants. It handles 70 percent of Russia’s fertilizer exports. Both ports suspended operations for much of last week, while partial reopening is reported currently.
After days of scant official comment on these Gulf of Finland attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today responded cautiously to a question about the implications of such apparent direct European involvement in the drone attacks on Russia: “Without question, we consider that if this is happening,” he said, “providing airspace for carrying out hostile, terrorist activity against the Russian Federation—then this will oblige us to draw the appropriate conclusions and take appropriate measures. The main thing, however, is not what the Kremlin thinks, but how the situation is analyzed by our military. They are investigating it closely, analyzing it, making the appropriate recommendations, which will then be considered.”
