Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight into Sunday, one of its largest aerial strikes of the war, setting fire to oil facilities in St Petersburg and killing at least one person, according to Russian officials. St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said at least five others were injured and that firefighters were battling blazes at the St Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot, as well as at industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district south of the city. Russia's Defence Ministry said it neutralised 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea. Kyiv had not commented on the strikes at the time of the reports.
The attack caused wider disruption in Russia's second-largest city. Beglov said 12 apartment buildings and two houses were damaged, and Pulkovo Airport, one of the country's busiest, restricted or temporarily suspended operations. Ozon, the Russian e-commerce firm often described as the country's Amazon, said a drone caused a fire at its logistics centre; staff were evacuated and no one was hurt. The social network VK said its regional data centre was targeted but that services were running as usual. In the surrounding Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said 145 drones were shot down and about 20,000 people lost electricity. The St Petersburg oil terminal was last hit in July; regions closer to Ukraine are usually targeted more often.
The strikes came amid strain between Kyiv and Washington. US President Donald Trump recently announced an "energy ceasefire" between the two sides, but Ukraine says Russia kept hitting its energy sector, 76 times in a week according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine paused strikes on Russian oil facilities for three days before resuming them, drawing Trump's criticism. Trump also put a hold on new sanctions against Russia, saying he did not want to push Moscow away from negotiations, and said Zelensky "doesn't want to end this war". The decision has drawn criticism, including from some Republicans. Relations have also been strained by a US deal to import Russian diesel, intended to ease domestic energy prices that have risen during the Iran war. Zelensky has suggested the deal amounts to investing in Russia's war effort. He said on US television that waiving sanctions would strengthen Putin, that intelligence sharing had resumed after being blocked for a period, and that he had spoken with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about next diplomatic steps.
Russian attacks continued on Ukraine. A strike on Kyiv killed a woman, hit a subway station and damaged a 25-storey residential building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Attacks on Zaporizhzhia killed a woman and wounded at least two others, including a six-year-old girl, and strikes in Volyn killed two people and injured 12, Zelensky said. He reported that Russia launched nearly 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles in the past week.
Both sides are striking each other's energy infrastructure with growing intensity ahead of winter, as the full-scale invasion enters its fifth year. Ukraine says it targets oil facilities to curb Moscow's main source of war revenue, and has also hit Russian technology infrastructure, including data centres of the search company Yandex. Russia says it targets facilities used by Ukraine's military, but the UN noted that the first two weeks of October were the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians in years, and Russian strikes have left hundreds of thousands without power, raising fears of another freezing winter.