In brief
In the early hours of 18 October, Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg’s oil terminal and the Ruchyi depot, setting them ablaze and killing one casualty while injuring several others. The attack also damaged residential buildings and forced the temporary closure of Pulkovo Airport. Both Ozon’s logistics centre and a VKontakte data‑centre were struck, though services remained online after evacuations. This strike comes as Russia’s defense ministry reports intercepting over 1,000 drones in a night, underscoring a war‑fueled escalation of energy‑infrastructure attacks.
The night of 18 October saw a Ukrainian drone strike on St Petersburg hit two oil facilities, causing a fire at the St Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot, with one casualty and at least five injured.
Governor Alexander Beglov reported that the terminal was on fire while firefighting crews battled the flames. The attack also damaged 12 apartment blocks and two homes, and forced the temporary closure of Pulkovo Airport.
In addition to the oil sites, a drone burst the Ozon logistics centre and a VKontakte data‑centre, but services remained online after the companies claimed that staff had been evacuated and no serious injuries occurred.
Ukraine has not yet responded to the raid, though President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian strikes on energy infrastructure had reached 76 since President Donald Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" last week.
Russia’s defence ministry said that it intercepted over 1,000 drones in one night, and the governor warned that mobile internet could see outages.
The strike falls amid a broader pattern of Ukrainian attacks aimed at blunting Russia’s war effort, following a pause after a diesel‑delivery agreement between the United States and Russia, then a resumption of drone assaults earlier in the week.
Governor Beglov’s comments point to a tightening of infrastructure defence ahead of the winter months, as both sides continue to target each other’s logistical and energy nodes in an ongoing war now in its fifth year.
