Russian authorities say Ukraine has launched an "unprecedented attack" on St. Petersburg and the surrounding area

Russian authorities have said Ukraine has launched an "unprecedented attack" on the Russian city of St. Petersburg and its surroundings, as the city hosts the final day of the annual Russian economic forum, the BBC reports today.

According to the governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko, more than 140 drones were shot down over the region, while the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, for the first time since the beginning of the war, called on residents to stay in their homes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had struck Russian weapons depots and a naval base, calling it a justified response to Russian attacks.

The attack came just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the forum, in which he said there was no point in meeting with Zelensky, who called for direct negotiations to end the war.

Zelensky wrote on social media today that "it's time to end this war," but accused Putin of wanting to "continue the fight."

He said Ukrainian drones had covered a distance of 1.000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region, targeting "enemy naval arsenals and the Kronstadt base."

He added that an oil depot in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, about 500 kilometers away, was also hit.

This followed an open letter Zelensky sent on Thursday, calling for direct face-to-face negotiations with Putin to end the war, which began with Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He wrote that it would be "wrong to simply wait" for the conflict to once again find itself in the focus of attention of the United States (US).

Putin rejected the request for a meeting on Friday, reiterating his position that peace talks should precede any ceasefire.

He said he would only end the war when Russia's goals were met.

Russia's long-standing position is that Ukraine should withdraw from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as abandon efforts to join NATO.

Meanwhile, in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, authorities installed by Moscow have suspended bus services on two highways following a campaign of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian logistics.

They urged local residents not to use them "for safety reasons."

The Russian-backed administration has also banned suburban rail traffic and the transportation of groups of children within Luhansk.

Putin previously said that Russia fully controls the so-called "Lugansk People's Republic."

In recent weeks, Ukrainian drone units have been targeting Russian logistics in occupied parts of Ukraine.

One analyst told the BBC that more than 200 trucks and more than 30 fuel tankers have been hit since the beginning of May.