Breaking News · October 18, 2026, 1:51 PM CDT
As reported by CNN:
Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks this year on Russia overnight on Saturday, hitting a key oil terminal in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s demand it stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure.
There have been growing tensions between Ukraine and the US in recent days, prompting fears in Kyiv it could lose essential support as it approaches another winter under relentless Russian attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” the US siding with Russia would be a “historic mistake.”
Despite this, the Ukrainian president said he spoke to US envoy, Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on Sunday as part of “nonstop communication” to work towards to goal of peace.
“We are doing everything on our part to make this happen, and to ensure that America’s position is strong and helps bring peace closer,” Zelensky posted on X. But Ukraine is keeping up long-range strikes into Russia.
Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday over various parts of the country.[1]
On the record
“Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia has deliberately attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times,” Zelensky wrote on X Sunday.[1]
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass that Kyiv was "resisting" Moscow's invasion but could not "change the current course of events." Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a woman was killed and a 6-year-old girl was among at least two other people wounded in two Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said Sunday.[2]
The numbers in the reporting
How 5 outlets are reporting it
- St Petersburg oil facilities ablaze as Ukraine launches more than 1,000 drones at Russia (AP News)
- Ukraine defies Trump and launches one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia this year (CNN)
- Ukraine launches 1,000 drones at Russia, attacks set St. Petersburg oil facilities ablaze (CBS News)
- Oil facilities hit in deadly overnight attack on St Petersburg (BBC)
- St Petersburg endures biggest Ukrainian drone attack (Financial Times)
What CBS News reports
Smoke billowed on Sunday at an oil export terminal and depot in St. Petersburg, which was set ablaze after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia.
It was one of Kyiv's largest aerial attacks of the war.
At least one person was killed, and five others were wounded in the attack in St. Petersburg, which sparked fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the city's Ruchi oil depot, local Gov. Alexander Beglov said.[2]
What is not yet confirmed
- The Trump administration has denied it ordered the service restricted.[1]
What the official record says
We searched government, military, court and international-body sites for a statement or document on this story and found none published yet. The officials quoted in this report are quoted as the outlets reported them, so treat those statements as secondhand until the original is published.
How to Verify This Yourself
Each headline above links to that outlet’s own report. The quoted passages come from the first two of those reports that could be retrieved in full.
References
- CNN. Ukraine defies Trump and launches one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia this year. ↩
- CBS News. Ukraine launches 1,000 drones at Russia, attacks set St. Petersburg oil facilities ablaze. ↩
Investigative methodology: this story was selected because 5 separate news organizations were reporting it at the same time. The quoted text is verbatim from the cited reports; nothing is paraphrased or added. Produced by scripts/breaking_news_monitor.py, not a language model.
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