In St. Petersburg, 300 apartment blocks in blackout following drone attack

On Saturday, October 19, electricity supply was interrupted to nearly 300 residential buildings in two northern districts of St. Petersburg, Russia. Shortly before that, UAVs were spotted over the city and then local residents heard a few explosions.

This is reported by DW with reference to local mass media, Ukrinform saw.

Russian media reported a massive power outage occurred allegedly due to an accident at an electric substation. Later, journalists, referring to emergency services, confirmed that earlier that day, a drone was seen over the city. Local residents reportedly heard three explosions before lights went off.

The press service of the St. Petersburg administration told the Fontanka outlet it would take nearly 10 hours to restore power supplies.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that, between midnight and 6:00 on Saturday, the Russian army shot down or intercepted 16 Ukrainian drones - two over Rostov region, one over Belgorod, and another 13 – over Bryansk region.

As Ukrinform reported earlier,  a number of drones attacked the Russian city of Bryansk, and likely targeted the Kremniy EL plant that works for Russia’s defense industry.