Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of its largest aerial attacks of the war, setting fire to an oil export terminal and depot in St Petersburg and killing at least one person.
Five others were wounded in the strikes, which also targeted a logistics centre operated by Russian retailer Ozon and a data centre belonging to technology company VK, according to the businesses.
Smoke rose over the city after fires broke out at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchi oil depot, local governor Alexander Beglov said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones across 15 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea. The claims could not be independently verified from the information available.
The attack came as Donald Trump said he was “in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine”, despite the continuing exchange of strikes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kyiv was “resisting” Moscow’s invasion but could not “change the current course of events”.
In Ukraine, a woman was killed and at least two other people were wounded in two Russian attacks on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said. A six-year-old girl was among those injured.
Trump and Zelenskyy clash over Russia sanctions
The latest strikes have added to tensions between Washington and Kyiv, after Mr Trump criticised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy over attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.
Mr Trump has also left open the question of further sanctions against Moscow. He said he did not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table”, adding that “great progress is being made”.
He argued that signing further restrictions could undermine negotiations and said: “I can sign it later, or any time that I want!”
Mr Trump again accused Mr Zelenskyy of targeting “Diesel Refineries in Russia” and claimed he “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did”. The Ukrainian president has rejected that position.
Speaking on US television, Mr Zelenskyy said lifting sanctions against Russia would strengthen Vladimir Putin’s war effort. He said intelligence-sharing between the US and Ukraine had resumed after being “blocked for some period of time”.
Mr Zelenskyy said that siding with Moscow would be a “historic mistake” for Washington, adding: “He’s aggressor. He occupied us. He killed adults and children, his soldiers. He’s a terrorist.”
Later, Mr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the results of an October 9 meeting between American and Ukrainian negotiating teams in Miami, as well as the next steps in diplomacy.
He also accused Russia of breaking Mr Trump’s “energy ceasefire” 76 times and said Moscow was seeking to deprive Ukrainians of heat and electricity before winter.
Energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions were struck overnight, Mr Zelenskyy said, leaving tens of thousands of families without power. He accused Russia of attempting to cause a blackout.
