Ukraine attacks sparked fire at major Russian port, says governor

MOSCOW – Ukrainian attacks sparked a fire at a major port in north-western Russia, with nearly 400 drones shot down overnight, the Russian authorities said on March 25.

“A fire is being brought under control at the port of Ust-Luga,” said Mr Alexander Drozdenko, governor of Russia’s Leningrad region, adding that no casualties had been reported.

He did not specify which part of the port had been hit. The facility is a hub for Russian exports, including fertilisers, oil and coal.

In recent weeks, Kyiv has intensified strikes against Russia, which has subjected Ukraine to daily bombardments since sending troops into the country in February 2022.

Russia’s defence ministry said that air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 389 Ukrainian drones during the night and early hours of the morning, particularly in regions that border Ukraine as well as around Moscow.

On March 23, Ukraine had struck and caused a fire at the port of Primorsk, also located near the Finnish border in north-west Russia.

Further south in the border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on March 25 “serious damage” on electricity and water facilities was reported after a Ukrainian rocket attack.

Russia had fired nearly 1,000 drones at Ukraine in 24 hours on March 24 and unleashed one of its biggest-ever daytime attacks, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russia’s “absolute depravity” after the attack which killed at least three people and damaged the UNESCO heritage site in the western city of Lviv.

A third round of US-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv aimed at ending the four-year war has been derailed by conflict in the Middle East. Ukraine sent a delegation to the US last weekend in a bid to revive the negotiation process, but the effort yielded no immediate result. AFP