Ukraine launched its largest-ever drone attack on St Petersburg on Sunday, despite US demands to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. Fires broke out at the city's oil terminal, and drones also hit a power substation and a data centre. Kyiv says Russia kept attacking its energy network after Washington announced an energy ceasefire.
Ukraine carried out its largest-ever drone attack on St Petersburg on Sunday, defying US demands to stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure. Governor Alexander Beglov said fires broke out at the oil terminal in the port, sending a large plume of black smoke over the night sky.
Parts of the city were also hit. Air defences claimed to have shot down 146 drones, and said one person was killed and nine injured.
Power, tech and logistics sites struck
According to the online outlet Astra, parts of Russia's second city lost power for several hours after drones hit an electricity substation. State-run VK, parent of the VKontakte social network, said one of its data centres had also been hit.
Meanwhile, online marketplace Ozon said a fire broke out after a drone strike on a warehouse, the first time Ukraine had targeted logistics infrastructure since mid-September. Airports in Moscow and St Petersburg closed for several hours during the attack, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled in the past two weeks as Ukraine expanded its strikes.
Russia's defence ministry, for its part, claimed to have shot down 1,015 drones across the country on Sunday, including 512 in the Moscow area, according to local authorities.
Dispute with Washington over the energy ceasefire
The strikes indicate Ukraine is determined to press on with its campaign against Russian refineries. Kyiv had paused it after US President Donald Trump announced the two countries had agreed to an energy ceasefire, and resumed it after uninterrupted Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Trump said he had agreed the ceasefire, struck a diesel deal with Moscow and waived a set of new sanctions on Russian energy exports last Sunday. Yet Ukraine's president said the ceasefire failed to stop Russian strikes, with more than 76 recorded attacks on the country's energy, oil and gas facilities in the past week, leading to major power outages.
The US, which had previously provided crucial targeting data for the strikes, said it had repeatedly asked Zelenskyy to halt attacks on Russia's refineries. It then allowed Moscow to export diesel amid a rise in prices on global markets.
Zelenskyy said Russia launched 180 drones, one ballistic missile and several cruise missiles overnight to Sunday. According to Ukraine's air force, 152 of the drones were shot down.
Source: Financial Times
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