Fires erupt at St Petersburg oil sites as Ukraine unleashes 1,000+ drones on Russia

Ukrainian drone attacks sparked fires at two oil facilities in St Petersburg on Sunday, killing one person and injuring five others, as Russia claimed to have downed 1,015 Ukrainian drones across its territory, occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.

The strikes came amid tensions over a proposed 'energy ceasefire', with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Moscow of continuing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure despite the diplomatic announcement. St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said the strikes triggered fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchi oil depot. A logistics centre belonging to Russian retailer Ozon and a data centre operated by technology company VK were also targeted, the companies confirmed.

Russia’s ministry of defence said its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones across 15 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS that Kyiv was “resisting” Moscow’s invasion but could not “change the current course of events.”

Meanwhile, a woman was killed and at least two people, including a six-year-old girl, were injured in two strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials told news agency AP. Regional military administration head Mykhailo Semikin said two apartment buildings, 18 cars and an educational institution were damaged.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said Russia had continued targeting energy infrastructure despite Trump’s announcement on October 11 that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to an “energy ceasefire”. “Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia has deliberately attacked Ukraine's energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that attacks overnight had hit energy facilities in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions. He said tens of thousands of families remained without power and accused Moscow of attempting to cause a blackout.

“America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting,” Zelenskyy wrote. “It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance. Thank you to everyone who understands this and helps,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign ministry also expressed regret over Ukrainian drones entering Lithuanian airspace, saying the incident may have resulted from Russian electronic warfare. “We regret the incident that occurred this morning in Lithuanian airspace, which may have resulted from Russian electronic warfare diverting drones during an operation against legitimate military targets in Russia,” spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi wrote on X. He apologised for any disruption and said Kyiv would share information with Lithuania to establish the circumstances.