
Two buildings were damaged and residents evacuated early Saturday in St. Petersburg, the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin, after several residents reported a powerful explosion that destroyed windows, Reuters reported.
The governor of St. Petersburg (northwest) Oleksandr Beglov said that there was an “incident” in the Krasnogvardiy district in the northeast of the city. There were no casualties, but residents were evacuated from their apartments, Beglov said, without specifying the cause of the incident or its nature, writes Agerpres.
Video footage taken by Reuters at the scene showed the damaged facade of the building, with broken windows, damaged balconies and broken glass and debris on the ground.
Immer wieder treffen Drohnen Ziele in Russland. Now a residential house in Sankt Petersburg is estimated to be open. Über mögliche Verletzte gibt es widersprüchliche Angaben. https://t.co/LZJHkS7iAI
— DER SPIEGEL (@derspiegel) March 2, 2024
In the video: “Half a house has been blown up here, guys! – And what happened? I didn’t understand – the UAV fell”: The district authorities reported about the accident on the territory of the Krasnogvardiysky District, str. Petersburg, no injuries https://t.co/LWvdR27nOH pic.twitter.com/P1gFQVAD3F
— Viktor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) March 2, 2024
Footage of the moment the drone collided with the building appeared on social networks.
The UAV fell on a civilian building on the street. Petersburg last night. Russian sources said the UAV was headed for a nearby oil facility but missed by only a few hundred meters. There are no civilian casualties. The place of launch is also interesting: some… pic.twitter.com/VF0jGUMxkG
— WarTranslated (Dmitry) (@wartranslated) March 2, 2024
According to unofficial sources cited by Dmytro, the founder of the War Translated website, the drone was supposed to have arrived from the east, from the continental part of Russia, but it will be almost impossible to confirm this.
Residents of damaged buildings told Reuters they heard strange sounds, followed by an explosion and fire.
Early this morning St. Petersburg was awakened by explosions. Presumably, Ukrainian drones attacked this area. Russian mass media claim that the target could have been the oil depot in Ruch. As a result of falling debris, a residential building was damaged. pic.twitter.com/pU4vOvJ4Vx
— NOELREPORTS uD83CuDDEAuD83CuDDFA uD83CuDDFAuD83CuDDE6 (@NOELreports) March 2, 2024
“At first I heard a whistle because I had just opened the window, then there was an explosion, flames and the apartment was full of smoke, the window flew out,” resident Olena told Reuters. She said it happened after 7:00 a.m. local time. (4.00 GMT).
Russian mass media reported that the cause of the incident could be a downed Ukrainian drone that was heading to a nearby fuel depot.
There was no official confirmation of this from the Russian authorities or state media.
Source: Hot News

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