During the night of October 18, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck the St. Petersburg oil terminal with FP-1 drones. A fire broke out on the complex’s premises. At the same time, the VK data center and other infrastructure facilities came under attack, while residents of the Russian city reported power outages, UNN writes.
One of the main targets of the nighttime attack was the St. Petersburg oil terminal — a large complex for receiving, storing and shipping petroleum products, including for export. The complex has a capacity of 12.5 million tonnes of petroleum products per year. The terminal plays an important role in transshipping Russian fuel via the Baltic Sea, including for its delivery to foreign markets.
The fire on the oil terminal’s premises was also acknowledged by St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov.
After Yandex and Sberbank — VK: drones attacked another Russian data center
The nighttime attack was not limited to oil infrastructure. The data processing center of the Russian technology company VK, which owns the VKontakte social network, came under attack.
OSINT analysts examined eyewitness videos and established that Ukrainian drones attacked the data center and the nearby Vostochnaya substation. Both facilities are located in the village of Novosergiyivka, in the Vsevolozhsky District of the Leningrad Region, near the administrative border with St. Petersburg.
After the nighttime explosions, users began mass-reporting problems accessing VKontakte. In particular, they reported difficulties loading pages, messages and media files.
VK itself confirmed the attack on the data center, but said the company’s services were available to users as usual, despite monitoring resources recording an increase in complaints about the social network’s operation.
This is not the first attack on major Russian data centers during October. As UNN previously wrote, digital infrastructure facilities belonging to Yandex were reportedly struck, while on October 14 Ukrainian drones attacked a Sberbank data center in Russia’s Saratov Region.
This is not the first attack on major Russian data centers during October. As UNN previously reported, Ukrainian forces struck digital infrastructure facilities belonging to Yandex and Sberbank data centers.
Read also: Strike on Putin’s digital empire: what the loss of Yandex data centers will mean
St. Petersburg partially without power: reports say a substation and a bridge were hit
Amid the attack, residents of St. Petersburg began reporting power outages. According to Russian media, outages were recorded in, among others, the Kalininsky and Krasnogvardeysky districts of the city.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko acknowledged the power outages, linking them to drone debris falling on power lines.
There were also reports of a drone striking the cable-stayed bridge over the Korabelny Fairway. It is part of the Western High-Speed Diameter — an important toll highway connecting the southern and northern parts of St. Petersburg. Russians reported that traffic was blocked on the section of the highway where the bridge is located.
Photo: Telegram Exilenova+
Another facility targeted was the logistics center of the Russian marketplace Ozon. The company confirmed the drone attack, while the monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported a fire at the warehouse.
Photo: Telegram Supernova+
Because of the massive attack, Russian authorities temporarily restricted operations at Pulkovo International Airport. According to local media, at least 15 flights were canceled.
We remind you
The St. Petersburg oil terminal has already been targeted by Ukrainian long-range strikes. In particular, on June 3, 2026, the Security Service of Ukraine reported the successful strike on the facility as part of a joint operation with the Defense Forces. At the same time, Ukrainian drones attacked warships at the Kronstadt Naval Base.
Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that it is Russia that is provoking further escalation by striking Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, and that Ukraine would respond to these attacks.
"Now they are striking bridges. Do they really think we will not respond?" Zelenskyy said.
The President noted that, by ordering attacks on Ukrainian data centers and mobile communications, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin must understand that similar infrastructure also exists in Russia, particularly in Moscow.