Ust-Luga Ablaze Again as 54 Ukrainian Drones Hit Russia’s Key Baltic Oil Port
Ukraine attacked Russia’s key Baltic Sea oil port of Ust-Luga overnight on Aug. 14 with 54 drones, causing a fire at the facility, according to Leningrad Oblast Governor Alexander Drozdenko.
“Damage has been recorded, resulting in a fire at the Ust-Luga port,” Drozdenko said on Telegram, adding that emergency crews were working to extinguish the blaze.
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He did not report whether anyone was injured. The attack lasted around four hours and ended at 6:48 a.m. Moscow time.
Ust-Luga is Russia’s largest port on the Baltic Sea and a critical hub for Moscow’s oil and fuel exports. Its terminals handle crude oil, fuel oil, jet fuel and gasoil.
Russia exported around 700,000 barrels of oil per day through Ust-Luga in 2025, according to Reuters data. The port is second only to Primorsk in Russia’s Baltic oil-export capacity. Together, the two ports account for roughly 40% of Russia’s seaborne oil exports.
Ust-Luga has been repeatedly targeted
The Aug. 14 strike is at least the sixth attack on Ust-Luga this year, underscoring Ukraine’s sustained campaign against Russia’s oil-export infrastructure.
In late March, the port came under almost continuous attack. On March 25, Ukrainian drones struck Ust-Luga, hitting oil tankers and storage facilities and triggering a major fire. The strike also disrupted operations at the Novatek facility and temporarily halted some petroleum-product exports.
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Two days later, three oil tankers, five fuel-storage tanks, three ship berths and other port infrastructure were reportedly hit in another attack.
By March 30-31, Ust-Luga had been struck for the fourth time in a week, with the repeated attacks disrupting operations at a facility handling around 700,000 barrels of oil a day.
The strikes had a measurable economic impact. FT reported in April, citing estimates from the Kyiv School of Economics, that five Ukrainian strikes on Ust-Luga and Primorsk cost Russian energy exporters an estimated $970 million in lost revenue in the week ending March 29.
Ust-Luga was hit again in early April, with Ukrainian drones targeting the oil terminal on April 7 amid a broader campaign against Russia’s Baltic energy infrastructure.
The port was also among Russia’s Baltic oil facilities targeted in a major Ukrainian drone assault on July 6.
Part of a wider campaign
The latest strike comes just two days after Ukraine hit the Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk, Russia’s largest oil terminal on the Black Sea.
That terminal exports an estimated 600,000–700,000 barrels of oil per day. Novorossiysk’s terminals exported 19.8 million tons of petroleum products in 2025.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia’s refineries, oil terminals, pipelines and tankers in an effort to cut Moscow’s energy revenues and disrupt the logistics supporting its war against Ukraine.