Ukraine on Tuesday night carried out a massive drone attack on Russia, using 1,000 drones, that hit both a Russian oil refinery in St. Petersburg and a large data center.
According to ABC News, the drones also appeared to strike a bridge in St. Petersburg.
Ukraine Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that it had shot down more than 1,000 drones, which means it was one of Ukraine’s largest drone barrages since the war began.
St. Petersburg’s governor, Alexander Beglov, in a Telegram post cited by ABC News, named the “St. Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky District” as sites that were damaged in the drone attack, and said that emergency services crews were working to put out fires at those places.
Beglov also said that one person was killed and five were injured.
In addition, per ABC News, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko of the Leningrad region said over the weekend that two transformer substations were hit in Yanino, leaving about 20,000 people without power.
The attacks are also an indication that Ukraine has no interest in the “energy ceasefire” that President Donald Trump had sought to impose on them.
The Ceasefire That Never Was
Earlier this fall, President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to an “energy ceasefire,” in which Ukraine and Russia promised not to attack each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump had become convinced that the attacks in that, and nothing having to do with the Strait of Hormuz, were the reason for high gas prices that were causing a political problem for him.
At one point, Trump said such a ceasefire had been agreed to, but Zelensky said that was news to him. But it was that lack of agreement that led Trump to reach a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy Russian oil and lift some sanctions.
Trump also called for Zelensky to be replaced as Ukraine’s president, while SpaceX reportedly slowed Ukraine’s access to the Starshield satellite system for a time.
For a time in October, Ukraine stopped attacking Russian energy sites, although Zelensky told the Financial Times in an interview that the block on such attacks would soon come to an end.
He also called Putin “evil” and questioned Trump’s willingness to deal with him.
Indeed, on October 30, Ukraine hit the Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery in Russia’s Samara region, bringing to an end a two-week pause in such strikes by Ukraine. That refinery produces jet fuel for Russia’s military.
The Wall Street Journal characterized that refinery attack as Ukraine ending the previous pause and “defying Trump.”
“Our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days. But they do not have an order,” Zelensky had told reporters in Ukraine earlier that week, when asked if Ukraine was officially pausing attacks on oil refineries, as a matter of policy.
And Russia has not abided by any energy ceasefire either.
Russia Strikes Too
Meanwhile, Russia earlier this week had launched its own attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
According to the New York Post, Russia hit energy facilities in ten different Ukrainian regions on Tuesday.
In what the newspaper called “one of its biggest ever attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure,” the attacks caused power outages in more than one region of Ukraine, while also affecting the water supply for “millions” of Ukrainians.
The attack consisted of 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles, the Post said, citing Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The Kyiv Independent reported that the attack was the “biggest mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this year.” That report also quoted Ukraine’s energy minister as saying the attacks hit a power station critical to the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, following a strike on that location by three drones.
“Over the past 24 hours alone, the enemy has deliberately attacked energy facilities more than 20 times,” Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national energy company, said in a statement this week, as cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
They also accused Russia of using “an unprecedented number of weapons, which has led to significant damage to the energy infrastructure.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has written thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
