A massive Ukrainian drone barrage forced people in St. Petersburg to run for shelter, as Kyiv warned Saturday that the intensity of strikes deep inside the heart of Russia “will continue to grow” after strongman Vladimir Putin snubbed peace talks.

One man was killed by falling drone debris and three others were left with minor injuries, as Russia forces shot down 141 Ukrainian drones that flew over its second-largest city, in what regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko called an “unprecedented attack.”

The blitz, on the final day of Putin’s flagship economic forum in his hometown, hit naval arsenals and a base in the historic port city of Kronstadt, just outside St. Petersburg, more than 600 miles from the Ukranian border.

Some of the more than 376 Ukrainian drones fired also battered an oil depot in Krasnodar Krai, 300 miles inside Russia. Columns of thick black smoke billowed from the facility, as 60 nearby residents were evacuated.

“Any manifestation of injustice against Ukraine will receive a just response,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on X.

“It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting.”

The burst on St. Petersburg — a major port city along the Baltic Sea — is the latest blow to Putin’s attempt to frame the war as a distant conflict removed from Russian daily life, amid rising taxes and inflation to finance his costly invasion.

Ukraine warned there were “no safe places in Russia” that could be spared from its long-range weapons, and that the “intensity” of the attacks “will continue to grow,” after Putin slammed the door Friday on a possible sitdown with Zelensky aimed at ending the four-year war — telling reporters he saw “no point” in meeting with his adversary.

That rejection may mark a turning point in the deadly conflict.

“Putin lost his chance to get out of his failed war,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X Saturday. “Things will only get worse for Russia. Battlefield losses will continue to grow. Failures will get more humiliating.

“All of this because the fanatic in the Kremlin wants to keep in power at any cost and is ready to sacrifice his country’s future and kill millions of people for his insane delusions.”

The Russian strongman has also falsely broadcasted his military successes in Ukraine, based on exaggerated claims from his high military command, accoridng to an assessment from the Institute for the Study of War.

It found his invasion of Ukraine has effectively stalled – despite Putin’s claims that victory is inevitable — with Russia gaining less than 16 square miles of Ukrainian territory since the start of the year.

That’s a tiny fraction – less than 8% – of the 200 square miles it advanced on last year, the latest ISW analysis found.

The battlefield could be shifting in Ukraine’s favor, military analyst Yury Fedorov told The Moscow Times.

“The overall trend is clear,” Fedorov said.

With Post Wires