A drone attack set fire to part of the Ust-Luga port area on Russia's Baltic Sea coast overnight on Tuesday-Wednesday, November 10-11, injuring three port workers, Leningrad region governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on Telegram on Wednesday — as Russia said its air defences downed well over a hundred drones over the region and NATO jets were scrambled over the neighbouring Baltic states, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Reuters

Drozdenko said the fire broke out in the port area in Kingisepp district, on the Gulf of Finland, and that early information indicated three port employees were injured but their lives were not in danger. He also said a power station had been knocked offline. Reuters said it could not immediately confirm the governor's account independently, and it was not established whether oil loading at the port — one of Russia's main outlets for exports of oil, fuel and grain — was interrupted.

3Port workers injured, governor said
146–150Drones the governor said were downed over Leningrad region — figures differ between his posts
18Flights cancelled or delayed at St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, TASS reported

How many drones? The figures conflict

Drozdenko first posted that 146 drones had been downed over the Leningrad region and that 'the counter-action is ongoing', then later put the figure at about 150. Neither figure is the number that reached the port, and neither could be independently verified. Russia's defence ministry separately said 627 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones were downed across 22 Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Sea of Azov — a claim also not independently verified.

What is solid

  • A fire broke out in the Ust-Luga port area overnight and three workers were injured, the regional governor said — reported by Reuters and Al Jazeera
  • NATO fighter jets were scrambled over Latvia and Lithuania and Baltic states issued shelter alerts during the drone wave
  • The attack came hours before the second and final day of US-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi

What is only claimed

  • The drone count: the governor gave both 146 and 150 in different posts
  • Who launched the drones: Al Jazeera said the origin was unclear; the Kyiv Independent attributed the strike to Ukraine, and Reuters could not independently verify the reports
  • The extent of damage to the port and whether oil exports were disrupted

Why Ust-Luga matters

Ust-Luga is one of Russia's most important western export hubs, handling oil, oil products and grain shipped through the Baltic Sea. Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russia's energy industry over the past 18 months, and on Monday a Ukrainian drone struck the Kirishi oil refinery — Russia's second-largest — also in the Leningrad region, according to Reuters. A drone alert was declared shortly after midnight Moscow time, and TASS reported about 18 flights cancelled or delayed at Pulkovo Airport near St Petersburg.

The port fire came as fighting and diplomacy ran in parallel — the Abu Dhabi talks ended the same day with a prisoner-exchange agreement but no ceasefire: Read: Abu Dhabi talks end with prisoner swap deal, no ceasefire

What happens next

Watch for: an official Russian assessment of damage and any interruption to loadings at Ust-Luga, which would matter for oil and grain markets; any Ukrainian confirmation of the operation; and whether Baltic airspace alerts become a pattern as drone waves reach further northwest. For Punjabi and Indian workers and students in Russia and for Gulf and Baltic shipping crews, the widening range of the drone war is the practical risk to track.