Ukrainian long-range drones attacked a key Russian port over the weekend, a security source said.
Video footage shows a drone striking the facility and causing a massive fireball.
Russia’s Ust-Luga port is used to support a murky and deceptive “shadow fleet.”
Ukrainian forces carried out an attack on a major commercial port in Russia over the weekend, using long-range drones to target and disrupt the operations of Moscow’s sanctions-evading “shadow fleet.”
The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, carried out the attack Saturday on Ust-Luga, a port in northwest Russia near the city of St. Petersburg, a source in the agency confirmed to Business Insider on Monday.
The SBU source said the drones flew over 550 miles and “successfully hit” their targets, with one drone striking containers filled with gas condensate, causing an explosion that severely damaged one container and sent shrapnel into three others nearby.
Video footage obtained by BI appears to show the moment the drone hits the containers. Sporadic gunfire can be heard ringing out in the background, suggesting Russia attempted to shoot down the drone as it drew closer to its target.
However, these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and the drone slammed into the Russian infrastructure, causing a massive fireball and a loud blast. The SBU source, citing unspecified experts, said repairing this facility will take a while and will cause a disruption to the port’s operations.
BI could not independently verify the SBU-provided details of the attack.
Ust-Luga is Russia’s largest commercial port in the Leningrad region and a key logistics hub along the Baltic Sea. The SBU source said Moscow uses the facility to sell oil and gas using its so-called “shadow fleet.”
The “shadow fleet” refers to the collection of vessels that Moscow uses to evade the international sanctions on its energy exports placed in response to its invasion of Ukraine and sustain significant cash flow to support its war efforts.
According to the European Parliament, this murky, deceptive network consists of aging and poorly maintained vessels with unclear ownership and origins. The ships employ various tactics to conceal movements and operations, like transmitting false data, ship-to-ship transfers, automatic identification system blackouts, and other deceptive practices.
“As Russia depends increasingly on its ‘shadow fleet’ to maintain oil exports,” the European Parliament wrote in a briefing published last year, “the EU and allied nations have implemented measures to counter these evasive tactics.”
It said the approaches include sanctions on specific vessels and greater international collaboration to disrupt the malign activity that helps to boost Russia’s war chest. However, Ukraine appears to favor direct military action.
“Drone sanctions from the SBU reduce the currency that Russia needs to wage war,” the security source said, according to a translation of their remarks shared with BI.
The attack on Ust-Luga over the weekend marks the latest long-range Ukrainian strike on Russian soil. Kyiv has heavily relied on its arsenal of domestically produced drones for cross-border operations, using these explosive-packed uncrewed systems to target Moscow’s energy and military facilities.
In recent months, Ukrainian drones have struck Russian ammunition depots, airfields, and weapons storage facilities.
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