Govind Tekale
The Associated Press reported on 18 October that Ukrainian strikes set fire to two fuel storage facilities inside Russia, the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchi oil depot. The report said these fires followed Ukraine’s resumption of strikes on Russian oil facilities after a three-day pause earlier in the month. It did not say how large either fire was or how long it burned.
According to the report, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones during the period it covered. The ministry said the drone activity it intercepted was spread across 15 Russian regions, as well as Crimea and the Black Sea. The report noted that this figure, provided by the ministry, was not independently verified by other sources.
The report said one person was killed and five others were wounded as a result of the strikes. It did not specify where the casualties occurred or provide further detail about the circumstances surrounding them, nor did it say which strike was responsible for the deaths and injuries.
Ozon, a logistics company, and a VK data centre were also named in the report as targets of the strikes. Both companies confirmed to the Associated Press that they had been targeted, according to the report, which did not describe the extent of any damage at either location.
According to the report, President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday waiving planned restrictions, citing United States national interests as the basis for the decision. The report did not specify which restrictions were waived or provide additional detail on the order’s scope or duration.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that intelligence sharing between Ukraine and its partners had resumed, the report said, after a period during which that sharing had been blocked. The report did not elaborate on when the earlier block had begun, how long it lasted, or why it had been imposed in the first place.
The report said Ukraine’s resumption of strikes on Russian oil infrastructure followed a three-day pause in such strikes, and that the pause had come after an energy ceasefire previously announced by Trump. The report did not specify the date on which the ceasefire had been announced, nor did it say whether further strikes were expected in the days following 18 October or how Russia might respond.
