Zelensky says Russia struck Ukrainian energy 76 times in past week
The Ukrainian drones struck St. Petersburg oil infrastructure early Sunday, sending huge plumes of smoke into the air, according to The Wall Street Journal. The strike hit a major oil terminal and other critical targets in Putin’s hometown, marking the biggest attack on St. Petersburg since the start of the war. St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov said one person was killed, five others were injured, and 12 apartment buildings and two homes were damaged; the city’s airport temporarily suspended its operations.
A St. Petersburg resident told The Wall Street Journal that loud explosions could be heard throughout the night even in the heart of the city. “War has come to us as well,” she said. “Now we too will feel what it’s like to be residents of Kyiv. I’m surprised we didn’t feel it sooner.”
Regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said Russian air defenses downed 145 Ukrainian drones over the St. Petersburg region overnight. In addition to the city’s oil facilities, the drones targeted a data center belonging to Russia’s social network VK and a warehouse of online marketplace Ozon. Russian users of VK complained of service disruption following the attack, while the social-media platform said its services were available as usual.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was responding to Ukrainian attacks with “systematic, massive strikes,” according to the state-media TASS news agency. “The Kyiv regime is resisting. But this cannot change the course of events,” Peskov said.
The attack followed the collapse of a fragile energy ceasefire Trump announced last week on strikes that have degraded Russia’s ability to refine fuel, turned the country into a net fuel importer and pressured an already tight global fuel market. The Kremlin said it had not agreed to the energy ceasefire, the Journal reported. Kyiv had refrained from hitting energy targets inside Russia for days after Trump’s announcement before resuming operations.
Zelensky said Russia had continued its strikes on his country’s oil and gas sectors 76 times in the past week, causing blackouts for tens of thousands of families, despite Trump’s announcement. “The main targets of these strikes are energy facilities — the Russians are trying to cause a blackout,” Zelensky wrote on X on Sunday morning.
In comments following Trump’s announcement of a separate diesel deal with Moscow, Zelensky publicly criticized his U.S. counterpart. “Peace never comes through weakness,” Zelensky said. “This is a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners.”
On Oct. 9, Trump said in a social-media post that he had struck a deal to import diesel from Russia to lower fuel prices, which he said had remained persistently high due to Iranian pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, the Journal reported. Trump has also waived most sanctions against Russia under a bipartisan law and called for Zelensky’s removal from office, the Journal reported. Trump had complained to Zelensky about Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries for several weeks, holding them responsible for high fuel prices that Republicans fear could hurt them at the ballot box in the midterm congressional elections in early November, the Journal previously reported.
Ukraine has also said it has started to face restrictions on its military-grade Starlink terminals, crucial to its military operations. It wasn’t immediately clear what had caused the disruption.
The strike on St. Petersburg was part of a broader weekend campaign. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that it had intercepted more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones across the country, including the Moscow region. The strikes were the biggest against Russia since relations between Zelensky and the White House publicly soured in recent weeks, as the Ukrainian president has criticized steps Trump has taken that appear favorable to Moscow, the Journal reported.