Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes targeting energy facilities overnight Saturday, leaving tens of thousands without power. A large fire broke out at an oil facility in St. Petersburg, killing one person and injuring five others, according to local authorities.
Saint Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said authorities were fighting fires at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses. Flights were restricted at the city’s Pulkovo airport, Beglov said, adding that 12 housing blocks were also damaged.
Russia’s VKontakte social network said its data center was hit in the city and Ozon — Russia’s second largest retailer — also reported a hit on its logistics center.
The head of the wider Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said air defense shot down 144 Ukrainian drones, with state media saying this was the largest attack on the city since the start of the 2022 war. He added 20,000 people were without power in the town of Yanino, where a substation was hit.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight over about 15 regions in the south and west of the country, including the Moscow region.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian strikes targeted power plants in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa regions, killing two people and injuring 12 others, including two children.
He added that tens of thousands of families remained without electricity, while technical teams worked to restore power. These attacks come weeks after Russian strikes caused widespread power outages as winter approaches.
The tit-for-tat attacks target facilities of economic and strategic importance to both sides. St. Petersburg and its surrounding area contain vital oil trading facilities, and Kyiv says its strikes on oil refineries and storage facilities aim to reduce Moscow’s revenue from the sector in retaliation for Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Russian data centers, including facilities belonging to Yandex and VK, have also been targeted in recent attacks. The strikes continued despite US President Donald Trump‘s announcement of an “energy truce” between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine had suspended its attacks for a few days before announcing on Thursday that it was resuming strikes on oil refineries, accusing Russia of violating the truce.
Trump had repeatedly called on Zelensky to stop targeting Russian oil facilities, arguing that these attacks were contributing to rising fuel prices.
U.S.-Ukrainian relations are experiencing renewed tension after Trump signed an executive order on Friday suspending sanctions and tariffs targeting Russian oil revenues. The decision followed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume Russian diesel exports to the U.S. and global markets in exchange for easing U.S. sanctions, a move that drew criticism from Ukraine. (AFP)
