Ukraine launched a massive drone strike on St. Petersburg overnight on Oct. 18, damaging critical infrastructure and killing one person, according to Russian officials.
The attack, involving more than 1,000 drones, targeted an oil terminal at the port, the Ruchyi oil depot, an Ozon warehouse, a VK data center, the Vostochnaya electrical substation, a cable-stayed bridge over the Korabelny shipping channel, and an addiction treatment hospital on Vasilyevsky Island, St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said. Residential buildings and dozens of cars were also damaged, with one resident killed and 15 others injured in the city and surrounding Leningrad region .
Fires broke out at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchi oil depot, disrupting operations at St. Petersburg’s main airport, which restricted flights for safety reasons, Beglov added. Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko reported that 145 drones were shot down in the region, leaving about 20,000 people without electricity .
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it neutralized 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight across 15 regions, including Crimea and the Black Sea . The strikes followed Ukraine’s resumption of long-range attacks on Russian oil infrastructure after a U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire collapsed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes, stating that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil, and gas sectors 76 times in the preceding week. He accused Moscow of attempting to cause a blackout in Ukraine .
The Kremlin said large-scale Ukrainian attacks on Russian cities would not alter its war aims, according to AFP .
