Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks of the war overnight into Monday, striking oil facilities around St Petersburg, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a US tilt toward Moscow would be a “historic mistake.”
On the battlefield
Russia’s Defence Ministry said 1,015 Ukrainian drones were brought down over 15 regions, Crimea and the Black Sea, according to Al Jazeera. Targets included the St Petersburg oil terminal and the Ruchi oil depot. Governor Alexander Beglov said at least one person was killed and five injured; Russian state media called it the biggest attack on the city since 2022. About 20,000 people in the Leningrad region lost power, and flights at St Petersburg’s main airport were disrupted.
Russia kept up its own strikes. A Russian attack on Kyiv killed a woman and damaged a 25-storey apartment block and a metro station, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Strikes killed two people in Volyn near the Polish border and a woman in Zaporizhzhia. Zelenskyy said Russia fired almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles at Ukraine in the past week.
Diplomacy and sanctions
The strikes follow President Donald Trump’s Friday executive order waiving parts of the Russia sanctions law he signed in September, just before penalties were due to take effect. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump wants up to 60 days to weigh the economic impact. Trump called Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy “a disgrace” and wrote that Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war.”
Zelenskyy said he had spoken with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and that Kyiv is preparing for the next diplomatic steps, including talks in Florida. He said Russia hit Ukraine’s energy sector 76 times in the week after Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” on October 11. He welcomed the resumption of US intelligence sharing after a pause but complained of restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield service, a claim the White House rejected.
Why it matters
Sanctions relief for Russia is already pulling oil prices down from five-month highs, which affects Guyana’s oil earnings, while Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refining add a counter-pressure on fuel supplies.
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