Smoke rises over St. Petersburg after Ukrainian drone attacks, June 3, 2026 (ABC News)

EA-Frontline VideoCast: “Ukraine Can Retake Crimea”

EA-Ukraine Video: The Economic Walls Close on Russia’s Invasion — Will Trump Rescue The Kremlin?

Wednesday’s Coverage: Kyiv Strikes St. Petersburg Oil Terminal Before Putin’s Economic Conference

UPDATE 0709 GMT:

Six civilians have been murdered and 26 injured, including a child, by Russian attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Three apartment buildings, five private homes, an administrative building, a mobile communications tower, and private vehicles were damaged.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Kremlin has been embarrassed by Ukraine’s strikes on oil facilities and a warship in St Petersburg, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Long-range drones hit the oil terminal, one of the largest in Russia, setting afire storage facilities. An attack on the nearby Kronstadt naval base and shipyard set afire the guided-missile corvette Boikiy, in dry dock undergoing repairs.

The Kremlin and its supporters have been boasting that 20,000 representatives from more than 130 countries will be at the three-day Forum, where Vladimir Putin is scheduled to make a keynote speech on Friday. Some guests arrived for opening ceremony under the blanket of thick smoke, but others were blocked when St Petersburg’s airport was temporarily closed.

The invitees include former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder; the US polemicist Candace Owens; and the misogynist agitator Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who face charges in Romania and the UK related to human trafficking, rape, money laudering, and forming an organized crime group.

Donald Trump has sent an official US delegation led by Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the chair of the US Commission of Fine Arts, who is overseeing the destruction of the White House for Trump’s ballroom. Former Hollywood actor Steven Seagal, a loud Putin supporter who has taken Russian citizenship, is also expected.

Alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv on Wednesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Just a day ago, there was a massive attack. We responded accordingly. It’s just a matter of time before we can scale up the intensity of our responses.”

Rutte added, “Russia’s recklessness is not new. But as Ukraine continues to stand strong, to innovate and to make battlefield gains, Russia is increasingly desperate.”

European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas said in an interview that Ukrainian strikes are causing “panic” for the Kremlin: “We see…that Putin is losing money, men, and momentum, and that’s why he’s increasing attacks on civilians.”