The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opened under direct drone attack. State-aligned and commercial outlets led with the strikes on the city's oil terminal and a warship in Kronstadt, while emphasizing the forum's scale and Peskov's promise of systemic retaliation. A separate drone hit a Moscow–Simferopol bus in the DNR, killing eight; the death toll rose through the day. Independent media highlighted the contrast between the forum's pomp and the black smoke over the city, and noted Putin's refusal to halt nationalization. By evening, editors balanced forum coverage with Ryabkov's nuclear warnings and reports of Russian advances near Krasny Liman, while The Moscow Times flagged lower oil revenues amid the Iran conflict.