Ukraine Launches Over 1,000 Drones at Russia, Multiple Oil Facilities Ablaze
Theo Al Jazeera
Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of its largest air strikes of the war, killing at least one person and wounding five while setting oil facilities ablaze in and around St Petersburg. The attack disrupted flights at St Petersburg's main airport and cut power to some 20,000 people, as tensions between Kyiv and Washington deepened over US President Donald Trump's criticism of Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
At least one person was killed and five wounded after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of Kyiv's largest air strikes since the start of the war. According to St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, firefighters were working to extinguish blazes that broke out from attacks targeting the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district in the south of the city.
Beglov said the "large-scale" attack killed at least one person and wounded five, and that several residential buildings and two houses were also hit. The strike disrupted operations at St Petersburg's main airport, one of Russia's busiest, which had to limit operations "for safety reasons," according to the governor.
Russian e-commerce company Ozon said a fire broke out at its logistics centre in St Petersburg. Internet company VK said drones attacked its data centre in the wider Leningrad region, but said services remained operating normally for users. Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said 145 drones were shot down and some 20,000 people lost power after the drone raid.
Russia's Defence Ministry claimed 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight across 15 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea area.
US-Ukraine tensions deepen
The attacks come as tensions between Kyiv and Washington escalate, with US President Donald Trump criticising Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure, while the prospects for additional US sanctions on Moscow remain unclear.
On Sunday, Trump defended his Friday decision to hold off imposing new sanctions on Russia, saying he did not want to do anything "stupid" that would push Moscow "away from the negotiating table". In a social media post, the US president said he believed new sanctions would erode talks aimed at a diplomatic solution to Moscow's war in Ukraine, rejecting bipartisan criticism that he was favouring Russian President Vladimir Putin's interests over Kyiv's.
Trump also criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has condemned Trump's recent outreach to Putin, for launching attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, saying Zelenskyy "doesn't want to end this war".
Trump announced on 11 October that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire", but gave no details. Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that he had "ended" the ceasefire several days later, after pausing strikes on Russian energy facilities while Moscow continued to attack Ukrainian infrastructure.
On social media platform X on Sunday, Zelenskyy wrote that Russia had struck Ukraine's energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Trump's announcement. According to him, energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions were attacked overnight, leaving tens of thousands of families without power, and he accused Russia of trying to "cause blackouts".
"America should see that Russia has taken no commensurate reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements," Zelenskyy said.
Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Zelenskyy said sanctions relief for Russia would strengthen Putin's war effort. He also said intelligence sharing between the US and Ukraine had resumed after being "blocked for a while". Zelenskyy said that while he trusted Trump, siding with Moscow would be a tragedy and a "historic mistake" for Washington.
Late on Sunday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he had discussed with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner the outcome of the 9 October meeting between the Washington and Kyiv negotiating teams in Miami, as well as "the next steps in diplomacy".
Russian attacks kill two
Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram on Monday that a Russian air strike killed a woman in the Ukrainian capital overnight, hitting a metro station and damaging a 25-storey residential building. According to Klitschko, the attack also hit non-residential buildings and a medical facility, wounding three others in Kyiv.
Local officials said two Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday killed a woman and wounded at least two others, including a six-year-old girl.
In another post on X on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russian attacks on residential buildings had killed two people and wounded 12, including two children, in Volyn. "This morning, there was an attack on an agricultural enterprise in Volyn. All the necessary services are working at the scene," he said.
According to the Ukrainian president, over the past week Russia attacked Ukraine with nearly 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic.
