Ukraine has launched a large-scale drone attack on Saint Petersburg, setting oil facilities ablaze, as Kiev accused Russia of repeatedly violating US President Donald Trump’s “energy ceasefire”.
Saint Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said on Sunday that the overnight attack killed one person and left five others hospitalised. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had struck Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas facilities 76 times since Trump announced the truce last week.
Neither side had publicly confirmed agreeing to the ceasefire beforehand. Moscow continued attacking Ukraine’s power grid, while Kiev eventually resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Beglov said firefighters were tackling blazes at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses. Twelve residential blocks were damaged, and flights were restricted at Pulkovo airport.
Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences shot down 144 Ukrainian drones, with Russian state media describing the attack as the city’s largest since the war began in 2022.
A substation strike left 20,000 people without power in Yanino, Drozdenko said. A woman and three children were hospitalised with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning after drone debris set a house ablaze.
Russia's VKontakte social network said its data centre was hit, while retailer Ozon reported a strike on its logistics centre.
Zelenskyy urges pressure on Moscow
Zelenskyy said Russian strikes on Sunday hit substations in four Ukrainian regions, leaving “tens of thousands of families without power”, and killed two people at an agricultural enterprise in the western Volyn region.
Kiev says its attacks on Russian energy facilities are retaliation for years of strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure. Trump has criticised the refinery attacks, saying they contribute to rising global fuel prices.
Zelenskyy renewed calls for pressure on Moscow after Trump blocked a new sanctions package targeting Putin and Russia’s energy and defence sectors.
“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.”
Trump also signed a diesel purchase agreement with Moscow this month, seen as an attempt to lower US fuel prices ahead of elections.
US-led peace talks have yet to produce a breakthrough. Putin said this week that Moscow intended to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine by force.
“It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance,” Zelenskyy said.
