More than 1,000 Ukrainian drones struck Russian oil facilities in St. Petersburg overnight, killing one and wounding at least five, while Russian counterstrikes killed a woman and wounded a six-year-old girl in Zaporizhzhia — all after Trump's unilateral "energy ceasefire" collapsed within days. The massive exchange underscores the real stakes for Americans: Washington pours billions into defending Ukraine's power grid while the U.S. electrical infrastructure sits vulnerable to attack and neglect, and the president waives Russian sanctions to import their diesel.
St. Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov confirmed fires at the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot. Drones also hit a logistics center for Russian retailer Ozon and a data center for tech company VK, both companies confirmed. Russia's defense ministry claimed it shot down 1,015 drones across 15 regions.
On the Ukrainian side, Zaporizhzhia regional military administration head Mykhailo Semikin said Russian strikes damaged two apartment buildings, 18 cars, and an educational institution. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine's energy, oil, and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Trump declared his ceasefire.
Trump announced the "energy ceasefire" on October 11. The Guardian reported that neither side had agreed to it beforehand. Ukraine paused its strikes on Russian oil for three days, then resumed them after Russia kept hitting Ukrainian infrastructure. Trump criticized Kyiv for the resumption, drawing ire from Zelenskyy, who posted on X: "America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting."
The bigger story is the sanctions waiver. Trump signed an executive order Friday night suspending planned restrictions on Russia, citing "national interest." The BBC reported the actual reason: Trump struck a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel to bring down U.S. energy prices, which have skyrocketed during the Iran war, ahead of midterm elections. Some Republicans have already criticized the move. Breitbart, relying on AP copy, did not mention the diesel deal at all.
"We'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at his Florida estate Saturday. "But it's a very good decision, and it's going to be a decision that's good for the country, and I think good for the world." He has yet to detail what the decision actually is.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Tass that Ukraine was "resisting" but could not "change the current course of events."
So here is the picture: Washington bankrolls Ukraine's grid defense with no end in sight, then turns around and buys diesel from the country destroying it — all to paper over energy prices driven up by another foreign entanglement. Meanwhile, the American power grid, which cybersecurity officials have warned is vulnerable to both physical and digital attacks, gets no such blank check. Follow the money: American taxpayers fund both sides of a war they were promised would be winding down, while their own infrastructure decays.
The ceasefire was theater. The sanctions waiver is a political punt. And the war grinds on, subsidized by the same citizens whose own lights could go out next.
