In St. Petersburg, more than 40 flights were delayed after a drone attack

Фонтанка

On the morning of June 3, around 59 drones attacked St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The main strike hit the area of the oil terminal in Ugolnaya Gavan, where a fire broke out. At Pulkovo Airport, 42 flights were delayed, and 12 aircraft were diverted to alternate airports. Schedule disruptions are also recorded at airports in Moscow and other major Russian cities.

St. Petersburg: drone attack and consequences

The city came under a large-scale drone attack on the day the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opened. Governor Alexander Beglov reported several injured people and damage to facilities in the Kronstadt, Kirovsky, and Krasnoselsky districts of St. Petersburg. Head of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko reported 59 drones shot down. In the Luga district, debris damaged four private houses; no casualties were reported.

Fire at the oil terminal

One of the consequences of the attack was a fire at an oil terminal in the Ugolnaya Gavan area. This is one of the largest facilities for transshipment of liquid cargo in the Baltic region. The enterprise handles cargo delivered by rail, road, and river, as well as loading onto sea vessels, bunker ships, and tank trucks. It has 21 storage tanks for petroleum products, and the total throughput capacity is 12.5 million tons per year. The distance between the attacked oil terminal and the ExpoForum, where an event is scheduled from June 3 to 6, is about 17 km.

Flight delays at Pulkovo Airport

At Pulkovo Airport, 42 flights were delayed and 12 aircraft were diverted to alternate airports. The Northwestern Transport Prosecutor’s Office noted that passengers are being provided with drinks, meals, and, if necessary, hotel accommodation. An operational headquarters has been deployed in the city, and emergency services continue to respond to the aftermath. Security measures have caused disruptions to mobile internet, with the number of complaints exceeding 130,000.

Disruptions at airports in other Russian cities

Disruptions on June 3 were also recorded at other major airports across Russia. At Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Domodedovo airports, flights on dozens of routes were delayed or canceled, including Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Antalya, Yerevan, and several domestic destinations.

A similar situation was observed in Sochi, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, and several other cities, where airlines are adjusting schedules due to restrictions and changes in airspace operations.

According to Rosaviation, flight restrictions and temporary schedule disruptions were introduced at several airports across the country following overnight drone attacks, leading to mass adjustments and disruption of normal air traffic.

Mass drone attack across Russia

On the night of June 3, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, air defense systems destroyed 354 drones over Russian regions. The list includes the Leningrad, Novgorod, and Pskov regions, the Moscow Region, Krasnodar Krai, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Smolensk, Tver, and Tula regions, the Republic of Crimea, and the Sea of Azov area.

In the Novgorod Region, Governor Andrey Dronov reported that drones were destroyed and urged residents not to approach debris and to report them via emergency number 112. In Bryansk Region, according to the operational headquarters, 134 drones were destroyed. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported nine intercepted targets in the evening and 13 at night. In Tula Region, 16 drones were shot down overnight. In Michurinsk, Tambov Region, an apartment building, an art school, a library, and industrial facilities were damaged, with windows shattered.

Conclusion

Analysts at International Investment note that Russia continues to face a challenging situation in terms of security and travel logistics. The events of June 3 once again demonstrated the vulnerability of transport and tourism infrastructure to external disruptions.

Mass restrictions at airports, flight delays and cancellations, and aircraft diversions directly affect travel. Passengers miss connections, planned itineraries are disrupted, and accommodation and ticket rebooking costs increase. This is especially sensitive for organized tours, where even a minor schedule change can break the entire travel chain — from flights to transfers and accommodation. For business travel, the consequences include missed meetings, delayed deliveries, and increased uncertainty in planning both domestic and international trips.

Such incidents occur regularly and continue to put pressure on the travel sector as a whole. They reduce the predictability of air transport and increase operating costs for airlines, airports, tour operators, and companies that depend on employee mobility.