St. Petersburg Faces Large-Scale Drone Attack During Economic Forum St. Petersburg’s big investment showcase ended under air-raid sirens, not applause — and the battle over what the drones really hit is now as fierce as the attack itself.

Kremlin Line: Security Intact, Negotiations in Play

State-aligned coverage frames the raid as a failed Ukrainian attempt to spoil the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, stressing that air defenses “downed” more than 140 drones and that there were “no casualties or major infrastructure damage.” The focus is on resilience: flights were diverted, Pulkovo Airport was briefly shut, but order was restored.

Moscow outlets also tie the strike directly to politics. The attack is cast as coming just days after Volodymyr Zelensky floated the idea that Ukrainian drones could “pay a visit” to the forum and publicly invited Vladimir Putin to talks — a proposal Putin dismissed as “inappropriate and insolent” while insisting Russia is open to negotiations only on its own terms.

Opposition View: One of the War’s Largest Strikes — and Close to Military Sites

Independent Russian reporting broadly agrees on the scale — 141 drones shot down over Leningrad Oblast, debris across multiple districts, a fire near Bolshaya Izhora, and a temporary operational HQ with emergency services on high alert. But it adds details the pro-government narrative glosses over.

The Insider calls it “one of the largest attacks during the war,” stressing that the blaze broke out at facilities of the Ministry of Defense and that residents near the fire were partially evacuated, albeit “for a few hours.” It also notes suspected hits or near-misses on a fuel depot, a naval cadet corps in Kronstadt, and a marine thermal engineering institute that develops underwater weapons — targets that look a lot less like terror and a lot more like military infrastructure.

Same Night, Different Story

Both sides agree: the skies over St. Petersburg were crowded with drones, and the forum ended under threat. Where they diverge is in the framing — Kremlin media presents an irritant repelled; opposition outlets describe a strategically calibrated strike that reached uncomfortably close to the Russian war machine.