Ukraine carried out its largest-ever drone attack on St Petersburg on Sunday, defying US demands to halt strikes against Russian energy infrastructure.
Fires broke out at the oil terminal in St Petersburg’s port, governor Alexander Beglov said, sending a large plume of black smoke billowing over the night sky. The attacks indicated Ukraine was determined to press on with its campaign of strikes against Russian refineries, which it had paused after US president Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that the two countries had agreed to an “energy ceasefire”. It resumed its campaign after uninterrupted Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Trump said he had agreed the ceasefire, struck a diesel deal with Moscow and waived a set of new sanctions on Russia’s energy exports last Sunday. But the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the energy ceasefire failed to stop Russian strikes, with more than 76 recorded attacks on the country’s energy, oil and gas facilities in the past week, leading to large power outages.
“The main targets of these strikes are energy facilities – the Russians are trying to cause a blackout,” Zelenskiy said on X on Sunday. “United States should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements.”
Air defence forces in St Petersburg claimed to have shot down 146 drones on Sunday. One person was killed and nine injured in the attacks, they added.
Parts of Russia’s second city lost power for several hours after the drones hit an electricity substation, according to online media outlet Astra. State-run VK, one of Russia’s largest tech companies and parent company of social network VKontakte, said one of its data centres had also been hit. Online marketplace Ozon said a fire broke out after a drone strike on a warehouse in the city, the first time Ukraine had targeted logistics infrastructure since mid-September.
Airports in Moscow and St Petersburg were closed for several hours during the attack. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in the past two weeks as Ukraine has expanded its strikes, adding to disruption for Russian travellers who have got used to planning trips considering that they might be severely delayed or land in a different city due to drones.
Alina, a 33-year-old who lives in the Nevsky district in the southeast of the city, one of the worst affected areas, told the Financial Times that she woke to the sound of explosions at 3am and continued to hear them until 6am. Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have shot down a total of 1,015 drones across the country on Sunday, including 512 in the Moscow area, according to local authorities.
The dispute over targeting energy infrastructure has seen Kyiv’s relationship with the White House sink further since the infamous Oval Office meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump in February 2025.
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The US, which had previously provided crucial targeting data for the strikes, said it had repeatedly asked Zelenskiy to halt attacks on Russia’s refineries, and then allowed Moscow to export diesel amid a rise in prices on global markets.
Zelenskiy told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the US had restored intelligence sharing, which he said had been blocked for three days during ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine has accused the US of limiting its military support in favour of abruptly embracing economic deals with Russia even as Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has shown no interest in abating his own aerial onslaught.
Zelenskiy said several electricity substations were hit in central and southern Ukraine as Russia launched 180 drones, one ballistic missile and several “Banderol” cruise missiles overnight to Sunday. One hundred and fifty-two drones were shot down, according to Ukraine’s air force.
Speaking to reporters on a WhatsApp chat on Saturday, Zelenskiy said he expected the US to lift more sanctions targeting Russia. Trump’s decision to waive sanctions mandated by a law voted by Congress last month “only helps the Russians”, Zelenskiy said.
Kyiv was blindsided this week by unexplained speed limits on the Starlink communication system used by the military to fly drones used to strike Russian targets behind the front line, as well as to strike drones hitting Ukrainian cities. Zelenskiy said the restrictions were ‘‘a planned operation’’.
A senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times on Sunday that Starlink remained throttled to prevent its use by the Ukrainian military at speeds above 160km/h. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told NBC on Sunday that it was “reckless” of Zelenskiy to allege that the Trump administration had intentionally slowed Starlink.
Zelenskiy spoke on Sunday with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Kyiv is looking to hold talks next week with the US, though the meeting has not been confirmed yet.
Additional reporting by Anastasia Stognei in Berlin, Katya Arenina in Vilnius and Joe Miller in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026