Ukrainian drone hits Putin's home region Leningrad.
Leningrad is Putin's hometown, which was renamed as St. Petersburg in 1991. However, both the region and the surrounding area have retained their original names from the Soviet era.
3:28 PM EST, January 18, 2024
"The air defense service systems destroyed an unmanned aircraft over the territory of the Moscow region, and intercepted it over the Leningrad region," the Russian Defense Ministry informed via their Telegram channel.
The governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, confirmed that no injuries resulted from this attack.
The Russian authorities are currently investigating the matter further.
Was an Oil Terminal the Target?
Vladimir Rogov, a Kremlin official, expressed the belief that Kiev's forces aimed at an oil terminal in the Baltic Sea, without success.
"The port infrastructure was not damaged, and no one was injured," Rogov announced on Telegram.
Rogov mentioned that Leningrad is the nineteenth region of Russia that has been targeted by Ukraine during this war, with ammo depots and warehouses being the primary targets. The Ukrainians themselves seldom claim responsibility for these attacks, and Kiev has not officially commented on the latest incident.
The first large-scale Ukrainian attack occurred in Moscow on May 30, 2023. Putin's residence and close associates were the focused targets during this event.
In a conversation with the Russian state television and radio station (VGTRK), Putin voiced his concern that these drone attacks could be attempts by Ukraine to elicit a reaction from Russia.
"They are trying to provoke us into retaliation. We'll see how we will respond," the Russian president commented at the time.
