An overnight drone attack on St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region on Sunday, Oct. 18, killed one person and set fires at the city’s oil terminal, an oil depot and industrial warehouses, the city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, says. RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, quotes Beglov’s post on the Max messaging platform, which calls it a massive attack by military drones: one person died and five people got hurt and remain in hospitals. The Kyiv Independent, citing the Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+, says the attack began at 2:50 a.m. local time (about 4:50 PM PT Saturday). AP (NBC News copy) calls it “one of its largest aerial attacks of the war,” with more than 1,000 drones launched at Russia overall.
Beglov names the Petersburg Oil Terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpino district as sites of fires, RIA Novosti and the Kyiv Independent report, and RIA says emergency crews kept fighting them; Al Jazeera (with AFP and Reuters) places the Kolpino district south of the city. RIA adds that Beglov earlier reported fires in the Nevsky, Krasnoselsky, Krasnogvardeysky and Moskovsky districts, and that he says the air-raid danger has ended and the city has started repairs. The BBC says Beglov reported 12 apartment buildings and two homes damaged, a temporary closure of Pulkovo Airport and possible mobile internet disruption; Al Jazeera says the airport restricted operations “for safety reasons,” citing Beglov. The Kyiv Independent describes the terminal as one of Russia’s largest fuel storage and export facilities, with a reported annual throughput of 12.5 million tons.
VK and Ozon both reported hits. VK said a drone targeted its regional data centre but stressed its services stayed available “as usual” after users reported outages early in the morning, the BBC reports; Reuters and Al Jazeera place the data centre in the Leningrad region. The Kyiv Independent cites Downdetector for disruptions across VK and its affiliated platforms. Ozon wrote on Telegram, the Kyiv Independent reports: “We evacuated all employees, and no one was injured. A fire broke out, and emergency services are working at the scene.” The BBC adds that Ozon stopped accepting seller shipments at the site “as it is currently serving other operational purposes,” and the Kyiv Independent says Ozon warned some orders may get cancelled as deliveries move to other centres.
Counts from the wider region diverge. Reuters, citing local authorities, puts the total at one dead and 15 injured across St Petersburg and the Leningrad region. RIA Novosti says a woman and three children needed hospital care in the Leningrad region’s Vsevolozhsky district and that homes, cars and power lines took damage in the region, leaving some residents without power. The Kyiv Independent says Russian state media later reported 10 injured, citing the Leningrad Oblast Health Committee. Regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defences shot down 145 drones over the region and about 20,000 people lost electricity, Al Jazeera reports; the Kyiv Independent cites Drozdenko at 127 drones and says debris damaged four cars in a parking lot. Al Jazeera adds that TASS called it the largest attack on the region in four years. Russia’s Defence Ministry put the overnight total at 1,015 drones, per Reuters and Al Jazeera; AP says the count covers 15 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea.
Russian officials describe the drones as Ukrainian, and Reuters, AP, Al Jazeera and the Kyiv Independent call the attack Ukrainian in their headlines. The BBC says Kyiv had not yet commented on the strikes. Reuters reports that Ukrainian drone producer Fire Point said the Ukrainian military struck a VK data centre near St Petersburg, and the Kyiv Independent says Fire Point claimed its FP-1 attack drone hit the terminal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the attack, said, as quoted by TASS: “The Kyiv regime is resisting. But this cannot change the course of events,” in Reuters’ rendering; AP says Peskov told TASS that Kyiv kept “resisting” but could not “change the current course of events.” This desk treats both as translations of the same remark.
Background on the energy dispute comes from AP, the BBC and Al Jazeera. AP says Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” on Oct. 11 and that Ukraine confirmed on Thursday it had resumed attacks on Russian oil facilities after a three-day pause; the BBC says the resumed strikes drew Trump’s ire and that the city’s oil terminal last took a hit in July, which the Kyiv Independent dates to July 4. In an X post on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote: “Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia has deliberately attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times,” Al Jazeera reports, adding his line that “America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements.” Al Jazeera says Russian strikes overnight killed two people and injured 12 in Ukraine, citing Zelensky, and AP reports that a woman died in two Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia, citing local officials. Al Jazeera notes Trump’s Friday executive order waiving sanctions and tariffs that target Moscow’s energy revenues; AP describes a Friday-night order waiving planned restrictions, citing U.S. national interests.
This desk did not see the sites and could not verify the damage, the cause of the one death or the drone counts; the Kyiv Independent says it could not independently verify the targets or the extent of the damage either. Most damage and casualty figures come from Russian officials and Russian companies, relayed by every outlet listed here, so the wide agreement on one death and five city injuries reflects one set of official statements rather than independent confirmation. Ukrainian military sources had made no statement in the coverage this desk read; the Fire Point claims come from a drone maker, not the armed forces.
