Russia: Huge flames and smoke rise over St Petersburg after drone strikes
Video. Huge plumes of black smoke billowed over St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, on Sunday, 18 October, as a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack sparked fires at industrial and logistics facilities. Russian officials said 126 drones had been intercepted in the surrounding region.
Footage shared on social media showed a major blaze at a warehouse operated by Ozon, Russia's second-largest online retailer, which said its logistics centre had been struck. Other images showed thick smoke rising from the area of the St Petersburg Oil Terminal, while an oil refinery and depot were also reportedly hit.
St Petersburg's governor, Alexander Beglov, confirmed that air-defence systems had been activated after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the city overnight, while Leningrad Region governor Alexander Drozdenko initially reported that 126 drones had been shot down over the surrounding region. He later raised that figure to 144, with some reports putting it at 145.
The assault set the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot alight and struck infrastructure in several districts of the city. Beglov said one person was killed and five others were injured, while operations at Pulkovo Airport were temporarily restricted for safety reasons.
The strikes came as President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine would resume attacks on Russian oil refineries after briefly suspending them following Donald Trump’s declaration of an “energy ceasefire” on 11 October. Neither side formally confirmed the arrangement, and Zelensky accused Russia of carrying out 76 attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the following week, including strikes on substations in four regions that left tens of thousands of families without power.
The latest exchange underlines the continuing struggle over energy infrastructure, with both sides treating refineries, terminals and power grids as central targets in a war that shows no sign of abating.
