Ukraine Fires 1,000+ Drones at Russia, Setting St. Petersburg Oil Terminal Ablaze
One of Kyiv's largest aerial attacks of the war killed at least one person in St. Petersburg and hit an oil export terminal, a depot, a data center and a logistics hub, as Zelenskyy warned Washington that waiving Russia sanctions strengthens Putin.
Smoke poured from an oil export terminal and depot in St. Petersburg on Sunday after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia, one of Kyiv's largest aerial attacks of the war. At least one person was killed and five others were wounded in the city, Gov. Alexander Beglov said.
The strikes set fire to the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the city's Ruchi oil depot, Beglov said. A logistics center belonging to the Russian retailer Ozon and a data center operated by the Russian tech company VK were also targeted, and both companies confirmed the hits. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency Tass that Kyiv was "resisting" Moscow's invasion but could not "change the current course of events." Russian attacks continued on the Ukrainian side of the front. In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a woman was killed and a 6-year-old girl was among at least two other people wounded in two Russian strikes, local officials said.
The overnight raid came as relations between Kyiv and Washington grew more strained. President Trump has recently criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. On Friday night Mr. Trump signed an executive order waiving planned restrictions on Russia, citing U.S. national interests. Late Saturday he told reporters he did not know what his decision on further sanctions would be.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Zelenskyy said waiving the sanctions would strengthen Vladimir Putin's war effort. He said U.S.-Ukraine intelligence sharing had resumed after being "blocked for some period of time." Zelenskyy said he trusts Mr. Trump but called siding with Moscow a "historic mistake" for the United States. "People want to forget what's going on," he said. "But we can't give this possibility to forget, or to change reality, or to change the truth." He called Putin an aggressor and a terrorist and said the two leaders cannot be compared.
Later Sunday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he had spoken with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about an Oct. 9 meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams in Miami and about "next steps in diplomacy." He accused Moscow of breaking Mr. Trump's "energy ceasefire" 76 times. Ukraine's government had initially said it was observing the truce.
Russian strikes hit energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions overnight, leaving tens of thousands of families without power, Zelenskyy said. He accused Russia of trying to cause a blackout and warned that Moscow planned to deprive Ukrainians of heat and electricity before winter. "America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements," he wrote. "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."
