Ukraine Launches Drone Attacks Near St. Petersburg as Putin Rejects Peace Talks

Ukraine launched a drone attack near St. Petersburg overnight, hitting the area again just before the last day of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s flagship economic forum in the city. The attacks come hours after Putin said there was no point in meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had sent him a letter calling for peace talks. Zelenskyy wrote online Saturday that Ukrainian drones hit “the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt” in the St. Petersburg region and an oil depot in the southern Krasnodar region. “It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting,” Zelenskyy said in his post on X. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones, the Associated Press reported on Saturday. The drone strikes came just ahead of the closing of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an event the Kremlin uses to showcase Russia’s economy and attract foreign investment. It is often dubbed Putin’s Davos. Earlier in the week, Ukrainian drones hit the outskirts of St. Petersburg just as the forum was getting under way. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that “things will only get worse for Russia” as Ukraine demonstrates its ability to strike deep into Russian territory. “By refusing President Zelenskyy’s offer for direct peace talks, Putin lost his chance to get out of his failed war,” Sybiha wrote on X. On Sunday, Zelenskyy is expected to meet the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. in London to discuss support for Ukraine and a way forward for peace talks.