SAINT PETERSBURG - The Kremlin on Oct 18 said Ukrainian large-scale attacks on Russian cities will not change its war aims as Kyiv hit Saint Petersburg with the biggest drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s hometown since 2022, setting an oil refinery ablaze.
Rising smoke was visible from Saint Petersburg’s historic city centre on the banks of the Neva River, with Russia saying Ukraine struck an oil refinery and depot in night time strikes that killed one person.
The attack came as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of violating an “energy ceasefire” announced by US leader Donald Trump 76 times as he warned Russia planned a “blackout” in Ukraine before winter.
Kyiv struck Saint Petersburg as its ties with Washington strained massively in recent days, with Trump waiving sanctions on Russia and striking a deal with Moscow on diesel.
Ukraine and its European allies have worried the White House is siding with Moscow, which launched Europe’s worst war since WWII in 2022.
Saint Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said one person was killed and five hospitalised in the city.
Authorities were fighting fires at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses, he said.
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 centre was hit in the city and Ozon – Russia’s second largest retailer – also reported a hit on its logistics centre.
The head of the wider Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said air defence shot down 144 Ukrainian drones, with state media saying this was the largest attack on the city since the start of the 2022 war.
Ukraine has attacked Moscow and Saint Petersburg throughout the Kremlin’s dragging offensive but large-scale hits on Russia’s main cities are rare.
“The Kyiv regime is putting up a fight, but that cannot change the course of events,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media.
Russia’s offensive against Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
Moscow has rained drones and missiles on Ukrainian cities daily and Kyiv says its strikes are fair retribution.
US-led peace talks have not led to a breakthrough.
In a fifth year of war, few see a way out.
Putin appeared in military uniform this week and repeated Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.
‘Dreadful routine of war’
“There’s a general feeling: they’re attacking, we’re attacking – it’s become the dreadful routine of war,” 58-year-old Galina told AFP in Saint Petersburg.
Sergei, another resident of the city who is also 58, said he felt his apartment block shake and quickly realised it was a drone attack.
“I don’t know if I was scared, what must be will be,” he told AFP.
“My main thought was that petrol would run out at the petrol stations and I’d better fill up.”
Ukrainian strikes caused nationwide fuel shortages in Russia earlier in 2026.
Leningrad governor Drozdenko said 20,000 people were without power in the town of Yanino, where a substation was hit.
He said a woman and three children were hospitalised “with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning” in the region after drone debris fell on a house, causing a fire.
“I woke up at night, heard bangs, looked out of the window and there was a fire,” 40-year-old Saint Petersburg resident Igor told AFP.
“They’re getting on my nerves already,” he added, referring to Ukraine.
‘Bet on war is paying off’
In Ukraine, Zelensky said Russian strikes hit substations in four Ukrainian regions, leaving “tens of thousands of families without power.”
Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks killed at least three people on Oct 18, including a 27-year-old woman in Zaporizhzhia and two people in the western Volyn region bordering Poland.
The Saint Petersburg attack came a day after Zelensky called on allies to keep up pressure on Moscow as he denounced Trump’s move to block new sanctions on Russia.
“America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,” Zelensky said on Oct 18, adding: “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 this week blocked a package of new sanctions on Russia which was meant to target Putin, as well as Russia’s energy and defence sectors.
He also signed an agreement with Moscow in October to buy diesel, seen as a way to try to lower fuel prices for American consumers ahead of elections.
“It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance,” Zelensky said on Oct 18. AFP