A massive Ukrainian drone strike set fire to multiple oil facilities and industrial locations in Saint Petersburg overnight, leaving one person dead and five others hospitalized, local authorities said on Sunday. The major aerial assault coincided with fresh accusations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who charged Moscow with committing dozens of violations of an "energy ceasefire" recently announced by US President Donald Trump.
Saint Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov reported that emergency crews were deployed to combat fires at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot, and nearby industrial warehouses. The strikes also inflicted damage on twelve residential buildings and led to flight restrictions at Pulkovo airport. According to Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko, air defense systems brought down 144 Ukrainian drones, in what Russian state media described as the heaviest aerial attack targeted at the city since the invasion began in 2022.
The barrage caused widespread disruption across the region. Governor Drozdenko stated that a strike on a power substation cut electricity to 20,000 residents in Yanino. Elsewhere, falling drone wreckage ignited a residential home, sending a woman and three children to the hospital with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Infrastructure owned by major commercial entities was also affected, as the social network VKontakte reported damage to its data center and online retailer Ozon confirmed a strike on its logistics warehouse.
The escalation follows assertions by Kyiv that Russian forces have repeatedly breached the energy truce. President Zelenskyy stated on Sunday that Moscow has targeted Ukrainian energy, oil, and gas sites 76 times since Trump made the ceasefire announcement last week. Neither Ukraine nor Russia had officially confirmed agreeing to the terms prior to the announcement. While Moscow persisted in targeting Ukraine's electricity grid, Kyiv subsequently resumed its long-range attacks on Russian petroleum processing plants.
Fresh Russian bombardments on Sunday disabled power substations across four Ukrainian provinces, depriving tens of thousands of households of electricity. In the western Volyn region, two people were killed during an attack on an agricultural enterprise. Kyiv maintains that striking Russian oil infrastructure is a direct retaliatory response to years of systematic attacks on Ukraine's civil grid.
The strikes on Russian refineries have drawn criticism from Trump, who warned that damaging oil facilities drives up international energy costs. The Ukrainian president renewed calls for stronger international measures against Moscow after Trump blocked a proposed US sanctions package intended to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin along with the country's defense and energy sectors. Expressing frustration over US policy, Zelenskyy urged Washington to recognize that Moscow views sanctions relief as license to continue its campaign.
"America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements," Zelenskyy said. "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."
The geopolitical landscape has been further complicated by a bilateral agreement signed by Trump this month to purchase Russian diesel, a move aimed at reducing domestic fuel prices ahead of US elections. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts led by Washington have failed to achieve a breakthrough, and Putin declared earlier this week that Russian forces intend to capture the remaining areas of eastern Ukraine by force. Reaffirming Kyiv's stance, Zelenskyy insisted that "it is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance."
