Ukraine launches over 1,000 drones at Russia, setting oil facilities ablaze

The air strike, one of Ukraine’s largest in the war, comes amid rising tensions between Kyiv and Washington.

Smoke rises above St Petersburg on October 18, 2026, following a Ukrainian air attack on the oil terminal in the Russian city [AFP]

At least one person has been killed, and five others injured after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia, one of Kyiv’s largest aerial strikes in the war.

St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said firefighters were battling fires sparked by Sunday’s attacks on the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district south of the city.

list 1 of 3 Israel’s ties with Europe are fraying. Can its election change that?

list 2 of 3 Why Iran-US negotiations keep failing

list 3 of 3 Photos: Protests across France spiral into looting, blazes and clashes

The governor said the “massive” strike killed at least one person and injured five, and that several residential buildings and two houses were also hit.

The attack disrupted flights at St Petersburg’s main airport, one of the country’s busiest, which was restricting operations “for safety reasons”, Beglov said.

Russian e-commerce company Ozon said there was a fire at its logistics hub in St Petersburg. The internet company VK said drones attacked its data centre in the broader Leningrad region, adding that normal services were available to users.

Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said 145 drones had been shot down and about 20,000 people were without electricity following the drone raid.

The Ministry of Defence said 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight over 15 Russian regions, the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.

US-Ukraine tensions deepen

The strikes came as tensions between Kyiv and Washington deepened, with US President Donald Trump criticising Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, and the prospect of further US sanctions against Moscow still uncertain.

On Sunday, Trump defended his Friday decision to put a hold on implementing new sanctions on Russia, saying he did not want to do anything that would “foolishly” drive Moscow “away from the bargaining table”.

In a social media post, the US president said he believed new sanctions would undermine negotiations to bring about a diplomatic end to Moscow’s war on Ukraine, refuting bipartisan criticism that he was favouring Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interests over Kyiv’s.

Trump also lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been critical of Trump’s recent outreach to Putin, for launching strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, claiming Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war”.

Trump had announced on October 11 that Russia and Ukraine agreed to an “energy ceasefire” , but offered no details. Zelenskyy told The Financial Times that he was “done” with the ceasefire a few days later, after holding off on striking Russia’s energy facilities while Moscow had continued attacking Ukraine’s.

Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Trump’s announcement.

Energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions were struck overnight, leaving tens of thousands of families without power, he said, accusing Russia of trying to “cause a blackout”.

“America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,” he said.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Zelenskyy said that waiving sanctions against Russia would strengthen Putin’s war effort. He also said US-Ukraine intelligence sharing had resumed after being “blocked for some period of time”.

Zelenskyy said that while he trusted Trump, siding with Moscow would be a tragedy and a “historic mistake” for Washington.

Later on Sunday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he had spoken with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the results of an October 9 meeting between Washington and Kyiv’s negotiating teams in Miami, as well as the “next steps in diplomacy”.

Russian strikes kill two

Meanwhile, a Russian air strike ⁠killed ⁠a woman in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, overnight while also hitting a subway station and damaging a 25-storey residential ⁠building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram on Monday.

Rescuers work at an apartment building damaged during a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 17, 2026 [Reuters]

The attack, which also hit non-residential buildings and a medical facility, ‌injured three other people in Kyiv, Klitschko said.

Two Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed a woman and wounded at least two other people, including a six-year-old girl, local officials said on Sunday.

In another post on X on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russian strikes on residential buildings had killed two people and injured 12, including two children, in Volyn.

“This morning, there was a strike on an agricultural enterprise in Volyn. All necessary services are working at the site,” he said.

“In total, over this past week, the Russians have attacked Ukraine with almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic,” the Ukrainian president wrote.

此次空袭是乌克兰在战争中规模最大的空袭之一，正值基辅和华盛顿之间的紧张局势不断升级之际。

2026年10月18日，乌克兰空袭俄罗斯圣彼得堡石油码头后，圣彼得堡上空升起浓烟。[法新社]

乌克兰向俄罗斯发射了 1000 多架无人机，这是基辅在战争中规模最大的空袭之一，造成至少一人死亡，五人受伤。

圣彼得堡州长亚历山大·别格洛夫表示，消防员正在扑灭周日圣彼得堡石油码头、鲁奇石油仓库和位于该市南部科尔平斯基区的工业仓库遭受袭击后引发的大火。

以色列与欧洲的关系正在恶化（共3条）。此次选举能否改变这一现状？

伊朗与美国谈判屡屡失败的原因之二（共三条）

图3（共3张）：法国各地抗议活动演变为抢劫、纵火和冲突

州长表示，这场“大规模”袭击造成至少一人死亡，五人受伤，多栋居民楼和两栋房屋也遭到袭击。

别格洛夫表示，此次袭击扰乱了圣彼得堡主要机场（该国最繁忙的机场之一）的航班，该机场“出于安全原因”限制了运营。

俄罗斯电商公司Ozon称其位于圣彼得堡的物流中心发生火灾。互联网公司VK表示，其位于列宁格勒州的数据中心遭到无人机袭击，但补充说，用户仍可正常使用其服务。

列宁格勒州长亚历山大·德罗兹坚科表示，无人机袭击导致145架无人机被击落，约2万人断电。

俄罗斯国防部表示，一夜之间，1015架乌克兰无人机在俄罗斯15个地区、被吞并的乌克兰克里米亚半岛和黑海地区被摧毁。

美乌紧张局势加剧

此次袭击发生之际，基辅和华盛顿之间的紧张局势加剧，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普批评乌克兰袭击俄罗斯石油基础设施，而美国是否会对莫斯科实施进一步制裁仍不明朗。

周日，特朗普为他周五暂停对俄罗斯实施新制裁的决定辩护，称他不想做任何会“愚蠢地”把莫斯科“赶出谈判桌”的事情。

美国总统在社交媒体上发帖称，他认为新的制裁将破坏旨在通过外交途径结束莫斯科对乌克兰战争的谈判，驳斥了两党批评他偏袒俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的利益而非基辅的利益。

特朗普还猛烈抨击了乌克兰总统泽连斯基，泽连斯基曾批评特朗普最近与普京接触，并指责泽连斯基对俄罗斯能源基础设施发动袭击，称泽连斯基“不想结束这场战争”。

10月11日，特朗普宣布俄罗斯和乌克兰已达成“能源停火”协议，但并未透露具体细节。几天后，泽连斯基告诉《金融时报》，他“不再相信”停火协议，因为在莫斯科继续攻击乌克兰能源设施期间，乌克兰并未对俄罗斯的能源设施进行打击。

泽连斯基周日在 X 上撰文称，自特朗普宣布以来的一周内，俄罗斯已对乌克兰的能源、石油和天然气部门发动了 76 次袭击。

他说，乌克兰四个地区的能源设施一夜之间遭到袭击，导致数万户家庭断电，并指责俄罗斯试图“制造停电”。

他说：“美国应该看到，俄罗斯并没有对制裁的解除或协议采取任何对等措施。”

泽连斯基周日在NBC的《会见媒体》节目中表示，取消对俄罗斯的制裁将加强普京的战争努力。他还表示，美乌情报共享在“中断一段时间后”已经恢复。

泽连斯基表示，虽然他信任特朗普，但与莫斯科结盟对华盛顿来说将是一场悲剧，也是一个“历史性的错误”。

周日晚些时候，泽连斯基在社交媒体上表示，他已与美国总统特使史蒂夫·威特科夫和贾里德·库什纳就10月9日华盛顿和基辅谈判团队在迈阿密举行的会晤结果以及“外交的下一步措施”进行了交谈。

俄罗斯空袭致两人死亡

与此同时，乌克兰首都基辅市长维塔利·克利奇科周一在 Telegram 上表示，俄罗斯空袭一夜之间造成一名妇女在基辅丧生，同时还击中了一个地铁站并损坏了一栋 25 层高的居民楼。

2026年10月17日，救援人员在乌克兰扎波罗热一栋被俄罗斯空袭损毁的公寓楼内进行救援工作。[路透社]

克里琴科说，此次袭击还波及了非住宅建筑和一家医疗机构，造成基辅另有三人受伤。

当地官员周日表示，俄罗斯对乌克兰南部城市扎波罗热发动的两起袭击造成一名妇女死亡，至少两人受伤，其中包括一名六岁女孩。

泽连斯基周日在 X 上发表的另一篇帖子中表示，俄罗斯对沃伦州居民楼的袭击造成两人死亡，12 人受伤，其中包括两名儿童。

“今天上午，沃伦州一家农业企业发生了罢工。目前，现场所有必要的服务设施都已恢复运行。”他说道。

乌克兰总统写道：“过去一周，俄罗斯总共向乌克兰发动了近2700架攻击型无人机、1700枚航空炸弹和66枚导弹的袭击，其中大部分是弹道导弹。”