Putin humiliated as raging Zelensky unleashes gigantic St Petersburg strike
Putin humiliated as raging Zelensky unleashes gigantic St Petersburg strike
Hannah Broughton Sun, October 18, 2026 at 10:27 AM UTC
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Terminal burns in St Petersburg (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine has launched strikes on the Russian city of St. Petersburg, as people watch the burning oil terminal fill the sky with smoke
Ukraine has launched a series of drone strikes on Russia overnight on Saturday, targeting an oil depot and causing multiple fires across the city's skyline, defying Putin and Trump's efforts to push Kyiv into surrendering.
The strike on the data center associated with VK, Russia's equivalent to Facebook, allegedly caused widespread and severe disruption to services in the region, including cloud platforms.
There was also an assault on the St Petersburg Oil Terminal, which triggered massive explosions, despite Trump's sudden claim last weekend that Russia and Ukraine had reached an "energy ceasefire".
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Since then, numerous attacks on energy infrastructure have occurred, with Ukraine conducting a significant strike on a Russian refinery in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, on Thursday, while Russia targeted Ukrainian power stations from Friday evening through Saturday morning.
St Petersburg receive overwhelming attack (Image: social media; east2west news)
Ukraine's massive drone attack on Putin's home city left Russia overwhelmed this weekend, as smoke filled the sky from a huge fire at one of the city's oil depots.
The move is likely to further anger President Donald Trump amid tensions over the energy ceasefire that he proposed.
Oil depots and data centers ablaze (Image: east2west news)
Ukraine struck both oil depots, ports, a power station, and a VKontakte data center. The drones also struck a bridge, forcing passengers at the local Pulkovo airport to take shelter.
It comes after Zelensky told reporters he was done with appeasing Trump's ceasefire, after Russia had already struck a number of energy targets and civilian areas in Ukraine this week.
One person dead and five wounded (Image: social media; east2west news)
According to Russia's Ministry of Defense on Sunday, its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.
The attack on St. Petersburg left one person dead and five more wounded, sparking fires at both the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the city's Ruchi oil depot, said local Gov. Alexander Beglov.
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Zelensky initially honored ceasefire (Image: east2west news)
Ukraine confirmed it had resumed attacks on Russian oil after a three-day hiatus on Thursday, October 15.
Zelensky was angered by Russia's continuing aerial bombardment of his country's energy infrastructure despite Trump's demand on Sunday for both sides to stop such attacks. The Ukrainian government originally said that it was committed to the ceasefire.
Zelensky speaks about Russian attacks (Image: social media; east2west news)
On Sunday, Zelensky said that in the past night alone, energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions had been attacked, and tens of thousands of families were still without power.
The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of trying to cause a blackout.
Zelensky urges US to see (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
"America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. 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." Zelensky wrote on X.
'Ukraine is rightfully defending itself' (Image: dts News Agency Germany/Shutterstock)
"It is because of this position of Russia's that the war continues, not because Ukraine is rightfully defending itself. It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance. Thank you to everyone who understands this and helps," Zelensky concluded.
Russia attacks Southern Ukraine (Image: Getty)
In the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, a woman died, and at least two other people were wounded, including a 6-year-old girl, after Russia launched two attacks, local officials said.
Two apartment buildings, 18 cars and an educational institution were damaged as a result of the attack, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration Mykhailo Semikin said.
Russia trying to create blackout (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Zelensky had previously cautioned: "Russia is trying to create a blackout in Ukraine just before winter. Russia is trying to leave millions of our people without electricity and heating.
"Pressure is needed to stop this. American sanctions, a weakening of pressure on the aggressor, and financial rewards for Putin only encourage him to continue the attacks."
'Putin wants to destroy us' (Image: Russian Presidential Press Servi)
The Ukrainian leader continued: "Putin wants to destroy us. He doesn't respect us, our sovereignty, or our territorial integrity. He truly believes that we are not a country, not a nation. Do you really believe that he is satisfied with just the eastern part of our country? And why, when the full-scale invasion began, did he go to Kyiv? Is this about the Donbas? No, this is about the capital. Without a capital, there is no state."
Source: “AOL Breaking”
