Ukraine launched what TASS called the largest drone attack on the St Petersburg region in four years, striking the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot, industrial warehouses in Kolpino, an Ozon logistics hub, and a VK data centre. Governor Alexandre Beglov confirmed one dead, five injured, residential buildings hit, and flights disrupted at one of Russia's busiest airports. The Leningrad region governor said 145 drones were shot down and 20,000 people lost power. Moscow's defence ministry claimed 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight across all fronts. The escalation is a direct and stated response to the collapse of Trump's 'energy ceasefire,' announced just one week ago. Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that Kyiv was 'done' with the deal, citing 76 Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy and oil infrastructure since Trump's announcement. Overnight Russian strikes killed two and injured twelve, including two children, hitting residential buildings and agricultural enterprises. Zelenskyy reported nearly 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles fired at Ukraine in the past week alone. The timing is structurally significant. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order waiving sanctions and tariffs targeting Moscow's energy revenues — the primary economic lever the West held over Russia's war economy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed it as a 60-day analytical 'pause' to assess global economic impact. Trump called it 'good for the country' and 'good for the world.' Ukraine is now watching its two main Western support pillars — military pressure and economic sanctions — being dismantled simultaneously. Zelenskyy's public messaging has sharpened into an explicit indictment: 'America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements.' The diplomatic subtext is blunt — the ceasefire was a unilateral American declaration that Russia never observed and Ukraine never formally accepted. Moscow's continued bombardment of Ukrainian energy grids makes the asymmetry visible. The strike on St Petersburg carries its own strategic logic beyond retaliation. Hitting oil terminals, logistics hubs, and data infrastructure in Russia's second city raises the domestic cost of war for the Russian population in ways that front-line battles do not. The disruption to Ozon and VK — consumer-facing companies — ensures the war touches civilian life in a city of five million. The extraction pattern is clear: the sanctions waiver releases pressure on Russia's energy revenues precisely as Russia intensifies energy-sector attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainian civilians bear the cost of both the bombardment and the diplomatic erosion. The 60-day 'analysis' window creates a structural gap in which Russia can operate with reduced economic consequences while continuing to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure. What emerges is a three-way misalignment: Trump pursuing a deal framework that requires reciprocity from a party that has shown none, Russia exploiting every pause to press its advantage, and Ukraine forced into escalatory strikes on Russian cities because its other options are narrowing. The 20-year question is whether the precedent of waiving sanctions mid-war while the sanctioned party escalates becomes the template for future conflicts.
