PRIMORSK — Ukrainian forces struck the port of Primorsk, Russia's largest oil exporting terminal on the Baltic Sea, with a nighttime drone attack on May 3, 2026, igniting a blaze at the facility, according to regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko. The strike was part of a broader wave of Ukrainian attacks against Russia's oil export infrastructure that day.

The drone strike did not cause an oil spill, Drozdenko said. Primorsk, operated by Russia's state oil firm Transneft, is capable of handling hundreds of thousands of barrels per day and lies over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Ukraine, between the Russian-Finnish border and the city of St. Petersburg.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a Telegram post that Ukrainian drones had hit a Karakurt missile ship, a patrol boat, and a tanker belonging to Russia's so-called shadow oil fleet. "One more Russian carrier of Kalibr missiles is out of action. Major General Yevhen Khmara reported on the successful destruction of targets in the Primorsk port," Zelenskyy wrote.

Zelenskyy said the operation was led by the chief of Ukraine's general staff, Andrii Hnatov. Moscow did not immediately acknowledge his claims regarding either strike.

Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia's oil export infrastructure, with Ukrainian drones flying deep into Russia to strike oil facilities, sending up plumes of smoke visible from space. Ukrainian officials argue that oil revenue directly funds Moscow's full-scale invasion of the country, now in its fifth year. Oil exports are a key source of funding for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and a related easing of U.S. sanctions has helped replenish Russia's revenue.