Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
In a large-scale overnight attack on St. Petersburg on Oct. 18, Ukrainian forces struck an oil terminal, a datacenter, and a bridge.
According to Russian state media, Ukrainian drones struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and a data center belonging to Russian social media company VKontakte. Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, announced that 127 Ukrainian drones were shot down in the region, with debris from a drone damaging 4 cars in a parking lot, and fires reported.
The Kyiv Independent can not independently verify the tagets and extend of the attack’s damage at this time.
Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported that the “massive” drone attack started at 2:50 a.m. local time.
Eyewitness footage taken by St. Petersburg residents shows what appears to be Ukrainian drones flying through the air and the city’s air defense systems at work. Large explosions can be seen lighting up the night sky in the city of 5.6 million, 856 kilometers (532 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
Videos taken at the scene also appear to show a Ukrainian drone striking an eight lane bridge in the city.
Numerous videos appear to show the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal engulfed in flames.
The facility, located in the city’s port, is one of Russia’s largest fuel storage and export facilities. It receives and ships petroleum products by river, rail, and motor transit, and boasts a reported throughput of 12.5 million tons per year.
Ukrainian drone manufacturer Fire Point claimed that a FP-1 attack drone was used to hit the oil terminal.
The hits on the oil terminal follows the abject failure of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s unilaterally imposed energy ceasefire.
Eyewitness footage from St. Petersburg residents show infrastructure burning near the city’s port during a Ukrainian attack on Oct. 18. (Exilenova_plus / Telegram)
Russian opposition news outlet Astra reports that a power substation was also it in the attack. Black outs and low water pressure were reported in the region as a result of the strikes. An apartment building was also damaged in the attack, according to Astra.
The attack on the VKontakte, known as VK, data center is the latest strike on Russian internet infrastructure. Ukrainian forces have struck multiple Yandex data centers in recent weeks, fulfilling President Volodymyr Zelensky’s promise to “respond in kind” to Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers.
Ukrainian forces have targeted Russia’s second-biggest city numerous times throughout the war. On July 4, Ukraine hit and damaged the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in an overnight attack.
As Moscow increases its targeting of Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, Ukraine has continued to hit sites deep in Russia.
Through swarming drone attacks, Ukraine has disrupted air traffic around Moscow and damaged data centers around the capital region in recent days.