Ukrainian drones set Russia's Baltic oil port of Ust-Luga on fire
Three port workers were injured and a substation was shut down two days after the Kirishi refinery was hit
Ukrainian drones struck the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga overnight on 10 to 11 November, starting a fire large enough to be seen from neighbouring Estonia. Satellite fire detection from NASA's FIRMS system picked up heat signatures spreading across the terminal complex and onto the water, consistent with a large petroleum fire.
Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko confirmed early on Wednesday that several drones had hit the port area. The fire forced an emergency shutdown of a transformer substation, and three port workers were injured, though not in a life-threatening way. Drozdenko also claimed that 150 drones had been shot down. The regional airport was closed for a time as a precaution.
Why does Ust-Luga matter to Russian exports?
Ust-Luga handles about 700,000 barrels a day of petroleum and, together with nearby Primorsk, carries the majority of Russia's Baltic oil exports. Its terminals also load refined products, coal, grain and other bulk cargoes, and Russian grain exporters have started to use the port as a fallback after repeated Ukrainian strikes on grain shipping in the Black Sea.
The extent of damage to individual terminals has not been made clear. There has been no confirmation of suspended loadings or of any ship being hit at the berths.
The port has been attacked before. Ukrainian drones hit it in September, and in March a campaign of raids ran for five nights in a row, causing damage that was never disclosed.
What else has been hit this week?
The strike came two days after drones hit the Kirishi refinery, also in the Leningrad region and Russia's second largest. The Surgutneftegaz-operated plant, with capacity to process about 20 million tonnes of crude a year, caught fire after Monday's attack. Kirishi had already been forced to suspend operations after earlier strikes in May and September.
Ukraine has targeted Russian oil loading ports and refineries systematically for more than a year. Rosneft has introduced petrol rationing at its filling stations as outages and fuel shortages spread, and Moscow is holding back diesel for its own war effort and domestic market.
In the Black Sea, Russia claimed fresh attacks on merchant ships around Odesa and Chornomorsk over the weekend, which could not be independently verified. The European Commission has announced €50m in funding to speed up a maritime security hub in Romania and Bulgaria after a series of deadly attacks on commercial shipping there.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 12 November 2026.
