MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
At least one person is dead and more than a dozen injured from a major Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's former imperial capital, St. Petersburg.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The attack happened on a weekend that also saw Russian missile strikes against Ukraine kill at least 11 people. The continued fighting is happening as President Trump argues the best way to end the war is to relieve pressure on Russia. In a moment, we'll speak with a lawmaker who disagrees, Democratic representative Don Beyer. We begin with the news.
MARTIN: Joining us is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Charles, good morning.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Morning, Michel.
MARTIN: Could you start with these attacks in St. Petersburg? What can you tell us?
MAYNES: According to Russia's regional governor, Ukrainian drones struck a range of strategic targets in and around St. Petersburg, including energy infrastructure. A key port oil terminal was hit. So was a refinery, causing large fires and massive plumes of black smoke along the skyline. It appears this was the largest attack on St. Petersburg since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Exactly how many drones struck the city, we don't know, but Russia's defense ministry said it intercepted 1,000 drones over various regions of Russia that night.
MARTIN: How big of a deal are the strikes on oil facilities, given that President Trump has been demanding that Ukraine stop hitting those sites?
MAYNES: Well, Trump, you know, seems to be trying to protect Russian oil facilities, following a deal he cut with President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, a move Trump hopes will bring down the price of gas for U.S. voters ahead of midterm elections. So in that sense, the news of Ukraine striking energy facilities in St. Petersburg Sunday is unlikely to please Trump, who's already called previous strikes, including one against Moscow last week, a disgrace, even as Russia has continued its own strikes on Ukraine. But it's part of a recent pattern we've seen from Trump, lashing out at Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in particular.
MARTIN: Talk more about that tension between Trump and Zelenskyy.
MAYNES: Well, Trump accuses Zelenskyy of carrying out these attacks to drive fuel prices up in the U.S., although economists will say that the rise in prices is mostly a result of Trump's war in Iran. Trump has since called for new leadership in Ukraine, saying Zelenskyy, not Russian president Vladimir Putin - who launched this war, after all - is the real obstacle to peace. And so to Ukrainians and their supporters, it feels - and not for the first time - that Trump is aligning the U.S. with Moscow against Kyiv.
MARTIN: What has Zelenskyy been saying about this?
MAYNES: He's tried to tread lightly, but he was asked directly what the U.S. supporting Russia would mean for Ukraine's future. Here's this response on NBC's "Meet The Press With Kristen Welker."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS WITH KRISTEN WELKER")
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: But if United States will support Putin, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's tragedy. It's historic mistake and big tragedy.
MARTIN: So, Charles, what's your sense of what happens next?
MAYNES: Well, I think it depends on how much more political capital Trump is willing to bet on better ties with Russia. On Friday, he exempted Russia from a congressionally approved sanctions package. This legislation Trump himself signed into law to honor his late friend, the Senator Lindsey Graham, that would have placed steep tariffs on Russian energy sales and increased sanctions on senior Kremlin officials, including President Putin. Trump has justified the waiver, saying the legislation wasn't in the national interest right now and later argued that more sanctions would only drive Russia away from a peace deal. But the decision just crystalized how Trump's claims - you know, he's a mediator in this conflict - are growing untenable. We heard Zelenskyy call this dealmaking with Putin a historic mistake. Well, the Kremlin's White House envoy, Kirill Dmitriev - he called it truly historic.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Charles, thank you.
MAYNES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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