Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, hitting St Petersburg oil sites as Trump–Zelenskyy rift deepens

Key takeaways

• Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight into Sunday, October 18, one of its largest aerial attacks of the war, according to Al Jazeera and The Guardian.
• Fires broke out at the Petersburg oil terminal and the Ruchi oil depot in St Petersburg. Governor Alexander Beglov said one person was killed and five were injured.
• Russia's defence ministry said it "neutralised" 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 regions, Crimea and the Black Sea.
• US President Donald Trump defended his pause on new Russia sanctions and said Zelenskyy "doesn't want to end this war". Zelenskyy said sanctions relief would strengthen Russia.
• Russia struck Kyiv again overnight into Monday; the city's mayor said a woman was killed.

What happened in Russia

St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said firefighters were tackling fires at the city's oil export terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district south of the city, Al Jazeera reported. Several residential buildings and two houses were also hit, he said. Operations at the city's main airport were restricted for safety reasons.

Online retailer Ozon reported a fire at its St Petersburg logistics hub, and internet company VK said drones attacked its data centre in the wider Leningrad region, while services stayed available. Leningrad region's governor said 145 drones were shot down there and about 20,000 people lost power.

Ukraine had not given its own count at the time of the reports. All casualty and damage figures above come from Russian officials and companies.

The Trump–Zelenskyy dispute

The strikes came amid rising tension between Kyiv and Washington. On Friday, Trump signed an order putting a new sanctions package against Russia on hold. On Sunday, he wrote on Truth Social that he did not want to do anything that would drive Russia "away from the bargaining table", and said Zelenskyy "doesn't want to end this war", according to The Guardian.

Trump had announced on October 11 that Russia and Ukraine agreed an "energy ceasefire", but gave no details, Al Jazeera noted. Zelenskyy later said he was "done" with it, after Russia kept hitting Ukrainian energy sites.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine's energy, oil and gas sector 76 times in the week since Trump's announcement. Speaking to NBC, he said waiving sanctions would strengthen Russia's war effort and called siding with Moscow a potential "historic mistake". He also said US intelligence sharing with Ukraine had resumed after being blocked for a period.

Strikes on Ukraine

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a Russian strike overnight into Monday killed a woman, injured three people and damaged a metro station and a 25-storey residential building. Russia's defence ministry said it had carried out a "massive strike" on military-industrial targets in the Kyiv region. Officials also reported deaths in Zaporizhzhia and Volyn over the weekend.

Zelenskyy said Russia had used almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles against Ukraine over the past week.

What to watch

• Whether Washington moves ahead with or drops the paused Russia sanctions package.
• Follow-up talks after the October 9 US–Ukraine meeting in Miami, which Zelenskyy said he discussed with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
• Damage assessments at St Petersburg's oil terminal and any impact on Russian fuel exports.