Moscow on Saturday vowed to retaliate against Ukraine's latest attacks, saying its air defences had intercepted more than 500 aerial targets, including mostly drones and 10 Ukrainian Flamingo missiles.
Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "attempt to cause damage to civilian targets in the Russian Federation will not go unanswered by the armed forces of Russia."
The ministry also noted Russian forces had captured five villages in eastern Ukraine, including Shyikivka, Novyi Myr, Cherneshchyna and Druzhelyubivka in the Kharkiv region, along with Vasylivka in the neighbouring Donetsk region.
Earlier, Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal in Saint Petersburg, hit a port near the Finnish border and crashed near the historic Peterhof palace complex, though no damage was reported.
The attack on Russia's second-largest city and President Vladimir Putin's hometown came as Moscow and Kiev issued conflicting claims over control of a key town in eastern Ukraine.
The drone barrage followed a Russian strike on Kiev earlier this week that killed 30 people.
It also came just hours after a Russian attack on central Sumy killed four people, including a child, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Andriy Kovalyov said on Saturday that "Ukrainian defenders continue to hold their positions along the designated defensive lines."
He described the situation as "difficult," acknowledging that small groups of Russian troops had entered the town, but said fighting was still ongoing.
