Firefighters extinguish the flames raging at the Kremlin-linked Novatek factory
Vladimir Putin suffered a night of hell as strategically important for his war in Ukraine infrastructure in Russia was attacked.
Explosions rocked the country’s largest liquefied natural gas producer, about 100 miles west of St Petersburg, near the border with Estonia.
Footage shows the Kremlin-linked Novatek plant in the port of Ust-Luga engulfed in flames.
‘When it exploded, the earth trembled,’ a witness can be heard saying.
Leningrad‘s governor, Alexander Drozdenko confirmed the outbreak at the facility and said 150 workers were evacuated.
‘There were no casualties as a result of the fire at the Novatek terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. The personnel were evacuated,’ he said.
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Drozdenko did not comment on the cause of the explosions but it has been reported that Ukrainian drones were behind it.
St Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka said at least two drones were seen in the sky flying towards the city before the terminal caught fire.
If confirmed, this would be the third timein just a week that they travelled – fully unimpeded – some 550 miles across the border and targeted Russian energy.
Novatek processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and gasoil, according to its website.
Smoke rising above the natural gas terminal in the Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga (Picture: AFP)
Local news agencies reported that two storage tanks and a pumping station had been damaged, but that the fire had now been brought under control.
Separately, a Ukrainian official claimed there was a hit on the Shcheglovsky Val defence enterprise in Tula, which produces air defence missile systems used to defend key sites including Vladimir Putin’s palaces.
On Friday, a drone attack hit an oil depot in Russia’s western region of Bryansk, bordering Ukraine.
That came a day after an attack on a Russian Baltic Sea oil terminal that Russian officials said was unsuccessful.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Novatek incident.
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‘When it exploded, the earth trembled.’
