Ukraine Deep-Strike Campaign Aftermath Defines Russian SPIEF Week Close
The Ukrainian deep-strike campaign of the past week — St Petersburg oil terminal Wednesday-Thursday, Kronstadt naval base and guided-missile corvette Saturday overnight, second St Petersburg drone wave Saturday (Russia intercepting 376 drones), Sumy train station Russian retaliation context — defines the close of the Russian St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) flagship event. Russian drone strikes killed at least two in Ukraine overnight Saturday-Sunday. The London Coalition of the Willing convening builds the structural Western response to the Putin diplomatic-track closure.
The Ukrainian deep-strike campaign against Russian state-prestige targets during the SPIEF flagship event has measurably affected the Kremlin’s economic-diplomatic positioning. The combination of the Kronstadt naval base hit (including a guided-missile corvette), the St Petersburg oil terminal strike and the second St Petersburg drone wave indicates Ukrainian intelligence-led targeting of the highest-prestige Russian assets. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier in the week that Russia is “increasingly desperate”. The combined picture — deep-strike pressure on Russia, Western coalition convening in London, Russia rejecting bilateral engagement with Ukraine — is the cleanest demarcation of the post-bilateral-diplomacy phase of the war.