1,015 Drones Downed as Russia, Ukraine Trade Deadly Strikes
In Russia’s northwest, Ukrainian drones went after oil facilities and an Ozon logistics center in St. Petersburg, along with a data center belonging to Russian social media company VK in the Leningrad region.
St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov said on Telegram that one person died and five were hurt. A “massive” drone assault set fire to the city’s oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses. He said 12 apartment buildings and two private homes sustained damage, and firefighters were still battling the blazes.
A fire also broke out at the Ozon facility, forcing staff to evacuate. The company said no one at the site was injured.
Leningrad Region Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said four people were hospitalized. Drone debris landed on an apartment building in Gatchina, and 55 parked vehicles were damaged in Novosyolye. He said an emergency power outage hit 50 apartment buildings and left roughly 20,000 people without electricity.
VKontakte said its Leningrad region data center was targeted but its services stayed online.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian territory, Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the Black Sea. Separately, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 512 drones were headed for the Moscow region, and air defenses destroyed most of them far from the capital.
Strikes on Ukraine
In Ukraine, Russian overnight strikes on residential buildings killed two people and wounded 12, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of “deliberately” hitting Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times since US President Donald Trump announced an energy truce between Kyiv and Moscow last week. He said overnight attacks on substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions left “tens of thousands” of families without power.
Over the past week, Zelenskyy said, Russia launched nearly 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic, with energy facilities as the main targets.
“And America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,” he said. “On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck Ukrainian logistics centers, ports and vessels allegedly used to support Ukraine’s armed forces. It said a logistics center run by Ukrainian postal company Nova Poshta in Rivne was hit, alleging the site stored and distributed dual-use goods, including components for long- and medium-range drones. It added that a cargo ship carrying military and dual-use goods was struck at sea about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of the port of Odesa.
Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defenses shot down or suppressed 152 Russian drones during the overnight attack.
Independent verification of the claims remains difficult because of the ongoing war.
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