Oil facilities hit in deadly overnight attack on St Petersburg

18 October 2026, 12: 57 BST. Updated 4 hours ago.

Key points

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remarked on Saturday morning that Russia had targeted his country's energy sector 76 times since Donald Trump declared an "energy ceasefire" last week.
• Nevertheless, on Sunday, Zelensky stated on Telegram he had had conversations with Trump's top negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
• Russia's defence ministry remarked it had shot down more than 1, 000 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Sunday.
• The region's Governor Alexander Beglov remarked fires were being extinguished at the St Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot after the attack.
• While Pulkovo Airport was temporarily closed, st Petersburg's governor remarked 12 apartment buildings and two homes were damaged in the attacks on the city.

At least one person has been killed in an overnight attack on St Petersburg that successfully targeted two of the city's oil facilities.

In practice, the region's Governor Alexander Beglov remarked fires were being extinguished at the St Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot after the attack. It additionally injured at least five.

In practice, a logistics centre belonging to Ozon – known as Russia's Amazon – and a data centre belonging to Facebook equivalent VKontakte were additionally hit.

Kyiv has not yet commented on the strikes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remarked on Saturday morning that Russia had targeted his country's energy sector 76 times since Donald Trump declared an "energy ceasefire" last week.

While accusing Russia of continuing, ukraine had paused its strikes on Russian oil facilities – which it notes are to limit the main revenue stream for Moscow's war effort – for three days after the announcement.

It then resumed strikes earlier this week, drawing the ire of Trump. This person pressed a truce to facilitate a agreement he struck with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to supply diesel.

Though regions closer to Ukraine are threatened more often, ukraine has struck St Petersburg before. The city's oil terminal was last hit in July.

While Pulkovo Airport was temporarily closed, st Petersburg's governor remarked 12 apartment buildings and two homes were damaged in the attacks on the city. He additionally stated mobile internet service disruption was feasible.

Social network VK confirmed a drone had targeted its regional data centre, but stressed its services were available "as usual" after users documented outages in the early hours of the morning.

Ozon additionally confirmed its local logistics centre had been targeted by a drone, sparking a fire.

It remarked staff were evacuated and no one was injured, and that it was not accepting shipments from sellers at the location "as it is currently serving other operational purposes".

As well as numerous oil facilities throughout Russia, Ukraine has additionally mounted strikes aimed at disrupting the Russian economy more broadly. Earlier this month, it introduced a series of attacks on Yandex, Russia's largest search engine, that led to service disruptions.

Relations between Washington and Kyiv have frayed since the US struck a controversial accord to import Russian diesel in the hope of bringing down US energy costs. It have skyrocketed during the Iran war, ahead of the midterm elections.

Zelensky suggested the accord was tantamount to the US investing in Russia's war effort.

Trump's decision to temporarily suspend a raft of sanctions against Russia has brought fresh criticism, including from some US Republicans.

He remarked their teams are in constant communication and preparing the next diplomatic steps.

As Moscow's full-scale invasion drags on in its fifth year, both Russia and Ukraine have been striking one another's energy infrastructure with increasing intensity ahead of the winter.

Though the UN observed on Friday that the first two weeks of October had been the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians in years, russia notes it hits targets employed by Ukraine's military.

Russian strikes on energy facilities have left hundreds of thousands without power, raising reservations concerning civilians enduring another freezing winter.

Zelensky remarked on Saturday that tens of thousands of residents were still without power. Russia introduced almost 2, 700 drones, 1, 700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles previously week, most of which were aimed at energy facilities, he noted.

In short, oil facilities hit in deadly overnight attack on St Petersburg is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.