Russian airport reopens after Ukrainian drone attack

Saint Petersburg airport, a port city in Russia, resumed operations this Saturday (4), after a temporary closure due to a Ukrainian drone attack in the region, local authorities reported.

According to the civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia, the restrictions at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport were introduced to “ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights.”

“During the period of restrictions, 20 aircraft were diverted to other airports,” Rosaviatsia added.

The closure of the aerial facility lasted more than two hours. The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexandr Drozdenko, who had initially reported that two Ukrainian drones had been shot down in the area, detailed that the attack involved four unmanned aerial vehicles.

“The night and morning of January 4th set a record for the number of drones destroyed,” Drozdenko wrote on Telegram. According to him, four drones were destroyed on the territory of the Leningrad region and the threat of further attacks was suspended.

According to the Astra channel on Telegram, the target of the drone attack was one of Russia’s largest ports, Ust-Lugava, located in the Gulf of Finland, about 100 kilometers from Saint Petersburg.

Most of the Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the terminal of the Russian gas company Novatek, located in the port, according to the channel. This is not the first time that Kiev has tried to attack the site, where a similar incident was recorded in January 2024