Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal in St Petersburg and a warship in dry-dock at anearby naval base, hours before Vladimir Putin’s showcase economic forum got under way in the city, in a clear attempt to embarrass the Kremlin chief.

The attack on Putin’s home city, location of his own ‘Davos’ comes as both sides dial up strikes against each other in their more than four-year-old war with no imminent end in sight. Russia unleashed a huge wave of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his drones had struck a fuel terminal in St Petersburg on Wednesday and said they had also targeted a military facility in Kronstadt on an island near the city where elements of Russia’s Baltic Fleet and major shipbuilding and repair facilities are located.

Ukraine released a video which showed a drone striking a Russian warship, the corvette Boiky, in what it said was a dry dock at Kronstadt.

A plume of grey smoke was visible from St Petersburg’s historic city centre and witnesses heard loud explosions on Wednesday morning.

A group of Ukraine’s key European allies are working on plans with Kyiv to engage Russia in negotiations to end the war, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Officials from Germany, ‌France and the ‌UK, Europe’s three biggest economies, have ⁠been discussing the possibility of holding talks and have discussed the matter with their ‌Ukrainian counterparts, the ​report added.

Formally known as the St Petersburg Economic Forum, the meeting has attracted an eclectic crowd, including famous Americans attracted to Moscow’s claims of “anti-wokery” and support for “traditional values”.

Moscow will be looking to strengthen its economic footing after top finance officials and Russia’s central bank are said to have urged the Kremlin to rein in spiralling defence spending, with Russia and Ukraine ramping up costly aerial attacks on vital infrastructure.

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has issued words of caution for Russian nationals being asked to fight in the war in Ukraine, warning them that they are likely to be killed in action.

Speaking to reporters after holding talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Rutte directly addressed young Russians who could be asked to join the war.

“You are being sold ​a raw deal,” he said. “Men like you who join the fight – you won’t ​be trained. Equipment they’ll provide you with is substandard,” Rutte said.

“There is a very high chance you’ll ​die or be wounded while you’re ⁠out there. And odds ⁠are, that if you are wounded, you will be left ‌to suffer in the mud and die,” the top Nato official said.

He added that Russian forces are suffering “absolutely staggering” losses of more than 30,000 of its soldiers dying every month.

US secretary ⁠of state Marco Rubio told ⁠a ​Senate ⁠subcommittee ⁠on ​Wednesday there ⁠will be ‌news “pretty soon” on $400m (£297.9m) Congress ‌approved ⁠for its war in Ukraine but delayed at ‌the ​Department ‌of ⁠Defence.

A bipartisan group of senators has pushed back on delays by the Department of Defence in sending $600m (£446m) in security aid to Ukraine and other allies in eastern Europe, asking the defence secretary Pete Hegseth for the funding to be disbursed.

The tranche includes $400m in Ukraine aid and $200m (£148.9m) more for defence programs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

All ​members of the European Union have agreed to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova on the first cluster of issues in ⁠their accession talks, Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced today.

Both Ukraine and Moldova are ⁠pressing for membership of the 27-member EU after more than ‌four years ​of war pitting ‌Kyiv against Moscow.

“Fantastic news,” she wrote on X. “We are one step closer to the EU membership: steadily moving towards our goal.”

Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said on ⁠X it had starting preparing to formally ​open ⁠talks on the first ‌group of negotiating chapters, which cover rule-of-law and democratic standards, with both countries.

“This marks a significant milestone in their European integration path, and sends a strong message of EU unity and determination,” it said.

The presidency said it ⁠would work “towards finalising the discussions” for the formal opening.

Earlier, Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar said his country and Ukraine had reached an agreement on the rights of the 100,000-strong Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Magyar had previously said ‌that agreement on the long-running dispute was ​essential if Budapest were to ‌agree to Ukraine joining ⁠the EU.

At least three people have been killed in drone attacks after Ukraine launched strikes on the two main centres in the Russia-annexed Crimea peninsula, Kremlin-installed officials in the region said early on Thursday.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of Crimea, said Ukrainian forces had hit a non-residential part of Simferopol, the peninsula’s main administrative town.

The strike killed three people and injured seven, he said.

In the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the local Russia-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said air defence units had intercepted more than 20 Ukrainian drones.

Razvozhayev made no mention of casualties, but said drone debris had damaged some buildings. The air raid alert remained in effect in the city for nearly five hours.

Germany’s leading role in rallying support for Ukraine and its close relations with Israel may have cost Berlin the chance of a seat on the UN Security Council, ⁠Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.

The Council vote, which elected Austria and Portugal to a two-year term along with Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago, was another blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s struggling government.

“We have always taken a clear stance on certain issues, and these are ⁠positions that not all member states share,” Wadephul told reporters, ​calling ⁠it “no secret” that Russia had stirred up sentiment against Germany.

“There is our firm support for Ukraine; the fact that Russia does not want such a voice at the Security Council,” he said.

Top finance officials and Russia’s central bank are said to have urged the Kremlin to rein in spiralling defence spending, as both sides ramp up costly aerial attacks on vital infrastructure.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday that Moscow is “losing on the battlefield” and “has no cards except terror”, despite a major blitz of cities across Ukraine overnight that killed at least 22 people.

Read our full story below.