June 3 (Reuters) – Russia has downed three drones over the Leningrad region to the northwest of Moscow and continues to repel the attacks, regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said on the Telegram messaging app, as a major annual economic forum was about to start.
The Leningrad region, home to crucial energy export infrastructure and a major oil refinery, is hosting its fifth wartime economic conference, President Vladimir Putin’s “Russian Davos”, in St. Petersburg from Wednesday.
The investment forum, the fifth since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, opens just hours after a deadly drone and missile attack on Kyiv which Russia said was in response to a deadly attack on a dormitory in Russian-controlled Luhansk.
In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-biggest city and Putin’s hometown, the Pulkovo airport was temporarily restricting incoming and departing flights, Russian aviation watchdog, Rosaviatsia, said on Telegram.
Another 13 drones heading to Moscow were downed in the early hours of Wednesday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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