MOSCOW

On Sunday, Russian authorities reported a Ukrainian drone targeting St. Petersburg, prompting the closure of the airport for five hours. This incident occurred while President Vladimir Putin commemorated Russian Naval Day in the city, despite prior cancellations of the naval parade due to security issues.

Typically, St. Petersburg is the site of a grand naval parade on Navy Day, where warships and naval vessels navigate the Neva River, often with Putin in attendance.

Last year, Russian state television mentioned skepticism regarding Ukrainian intentions to disrupt urban celebrations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the cancellation of this year’s parade on security grounds, aligning with initial announcements made earlier in July.

Putin traveled to the historic naval headquarters on a patrol boat on Sunday. From there, he oversaw training exercises involving over 150 ships and 15,000 servicemen across the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, as well as the Baltic and Caspian Seas. “Today, we are commemorating this holiday in a working capacity. We are evaluating the fleet’s readiness for combat,” he noted in a video address.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that their air defense units had intercepted 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday. This follows a record attempt where 524 drones were downed in a previous attack on May 7, just ahead of the Victory Day parade on May 9.

Alexander Drosdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region, indicated that over ten drones fell within the area, resulting in injuries to a woman. Drosdenko announced that the attack had been thwarted by 8:40 GMT on Sunday.

During the attack, St. Petersburg’s Parcovo airport was temporarily shut down, leading to delays for 57 flights and rerouting of 22 others to different airports. Operations at Pulkovo resumed later in the day.

Alexander Yunashev, a Russian blogger traveling with Peskov, mentioned that his flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg faced a two-hour delay due to the drone attack.