After Ukrainian drone attacks in March and April targeted oil terminals in Primorsk and Ust-Luga, official reports again spoke of rising exports. But people live next to those ports, and for them the raids have become part of daily life: they hear explosions, watch drones overhead, and deal with the consequences of air defense activity.
In Primorsk, formerly the Finnish town of Koivisto, local residents and museum staff recalled the night of March 23, 2026, when, according to Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko, a fuel tank was damaged; later officials reported that tanks with petroleum products were being extinguished. Interviewees said they heard blasts, saw the glow, and had no mobile internet at the time.
The settlement closest to the terminals is Yermilovo, about one kilometer from the port. Residents there said debris from intercepted drones had fallen in the village and once damaged a power line. Alerts, they said, do not reach everyone and often arrive late, so many rely on the evacuation of port workers, messages in apps, or simply the sound of explosions.
“We saw everything, we did not sleep through any of those nights. But the settlement is not what interests them; only 600 people live here, they will not strike us,” one Yermilovo resident said.
People also described the everyday aftermath of the attack: smoke above their homes, the smell of burning, and residue on cars and shoes after the port fire. At the same time, some said they feared not the strikes themselves but the lack of shelters and the absence of a clear warning system. Locals noted that port workers are evacuated before information about the danger reaches the settlement.
In Ust-Luga, the mood was similar. Residents recalled an incident in which debris from a downed drone hit a private house and pierced the roof, though they stressed that the owners received compensation. Some said their main concern was possible layoffs and damage in the port, yet even there people repeated the same idea: homes, schools, and the settlement itself, they hope, are not the intended targets.