Ust-Luga Port Drone Attack: What Was Hit Overnight

Ukrainian long-range attack drones have struck the port of Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland overnight into November 11, setting fire to part of Russia’s largest energy export hub on the Baltic Sea, more than 800 kilometres from the nearest Ukrainian territory. Leningrad region Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko stated that several drones hit the port area, starting a fire and injuring three workers, and that a transformer substation in Ust-Luga had been shut down. Satellite thermal data recorded several fires both inside the port and on the adjacent water. The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that its air defences had destroyed 627 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 22 regions, occupied Crimea and the Sea of Azov, around 150 of them over the Leningrad region. The raid highlights how far Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian energy exports now reaches, landing as both delegations met for a second day of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi.

Ust-Luga is the terminus of the Baltic Pipeline System-2 and home to the NOVATEK-Ust-Luga complex, which can process nearly eight million tonnes of gas condensate a year into jet fuel, gas oil and other export products. The port is sanctioned by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and the U.S. as a loading point for the shadow fleet of tankers carrying Russian oil. The facility is far from a new target, with Ukraine’s military intelligence having confirmed on September 1 a strike on the NOVATEK complex which damaged key components of an oil processing unit and caused a large fire. Neither Drozdenko nor the Ukrainian General Staff identified which terminal was hit this time, and the Ukrainian military did not immediately comment, while authorities in the Smolensk region reported that two people were killed when drone debris struck an apartment building.

The attack came on a night of particularly heavy exchanges in both directions, following an opening day of talks on November 10. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that from 18:00 that evening Russia launched one Kh-59/69 air-to-surface missile from over the Black Sea along with 163 Shahed and Gerbera drones, 91 of the Shaheds jet-powered. S-8000 Banderol and Dan-T cruise missiles and Parodiya decoys were also launched, from areas including Oryol, Kursk, Millerovo, Shatalovo and Hvardiiske in Crimea. By 08:00 Ukrainian air defences had destroyed or jammed 14 Banderol and Dan-T missiles and 130 drones, but hits were recorded at 17 locations. Ukraine’s government stated that six major electricity facilities in four regions had been struck, along with railway infrastructure in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions.

Neither side’s interception figures can be independently verified, with Ukraine not disclosing how many drones it launches. The Russian ministry’s figure was also considerably lower than the 802 fixed-wing drones it reported destroying over the 24 hours to the morning of November 10, in the same briefing in which it claimed its first kills of U.S.-built AGM-188A missiles. Temporary flight restrictions were imposed at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport during the raid, while oil exports through Ust-Luga averaged roughly 700,000 barrels per day in 2025 by some estimates.