Ukrainian drones hit targets in St Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast overnight on 17-18 October, between 844 and 860km from the border. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington research group, called them large-scale strikes on an extremely wide target set1. The hits included a data centre of VK, Russia's largest social network, which admitted the hit but said its services stayed up.
The neighbouring Vostochnaya substation was hit too; Governor Alexander Drozdenko said about 20,000 people lost power. Drones also struck a logistics centre of Ozon, the Russian online retailer, and a span of the Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD), the city's toll motorway.
Fire Point, the Ukrainian manufacturer, says its FP-1 drones hit the Petersburg Oil Terminal, the city's oil-products export terminal, which handles 12.5m tonnes a year, and the Ruchyi oil depot2. Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed 1,015 Ukrainian drones downed that night. St Petersburg's governor, Alexander Beglov, said firefighters were putting out fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot, and that one person was killed and five injured3. Fire Point's claim that its FP-1 drones made the hits, and the Defence Ministry's figure of 1,015 drones downed, have not been independently verified4.
The raid extends a campaign that has hit Russian refineries and two Yandex data centres, resumed after Zelenskyy ended the energy truce. Moscow came under attack days later: on the night of 21-22 October, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones flew towards the Moscow region. He said 163 were stopped on approach to the city and two people were injured in Voronovo, in New Moscow5.
