Facilities Targeted in Deadly Overnight Attack on St Petersburg

Oil sites and city damage

Two oil facilities in St Petersburg were successfully targeted, including the St Petersburg Oil Terminal. Ukraine has struck the city before, although areas nearer Ukraine face attacks more often; the terminal was last hit in July.

The governor said 12 apartment buildings and two houses were damaged. Pulkovo Airport was shut temporarily, and at least one person was killed in the attack.

Other facilities affected

A logistics centre belonging to Ozon and a VKontakte data centre were also hit. VK confirmed a drone targeted its regional data centre, while users reported outages during the early morning.

The company said staff had been evacuated and nobody was hurt. It said its services were operating as usual and that the site was not taking sellers’ shipments because it was being used for other operational purposes.

Strikes and wider tensions

Ukraine had paused strikes on Russian oil facilities for three days after an announcement, saying such attacks target a major source of revenue for Moscow’s war effort. Ukraine accused Russia of continuing its own attacks during the pause.

Relations between Washington and Kyiv have worsened after the US struck a deal to import Russian diesel, seeking to lower energy prices that had surged during the Iran war. Trump’s temporary suspension of several sanctions on Russia also drew criticism, including from some Republicans.

Civilian impact in Ukraine

Russia says it attacks sites used by Ukraine’s military. The UN said the first two weeks of October were the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians in years. On Saturday, Zelensky said tens of thousands of people remained without electricity. He said Russia had launched nearly 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles during the previous week, with most aimed at energy facilities.