'It's Come To This': Gas Shortages Hit Russia As Ukraine Hits Refineries

Key Points:

• Fuel shortages and sales restrictions in Russia's Rostov, Krasnodar, and Tatarstan regions have left many motorists and businesses, including Daniil’s motorboat rental, struggling to obtain gasoline amid Ukraine’s intensified drone and missile strikes on Russian refineries.
• Ukraine’s targeted attacks on major Russian oil facilities, including eight of the country’s ten largest refineries and key sites near St. Petersburg and Moscow, aim to disrupt Russia’s oil exports and war funding, causing widespread fuel rationing and supply disruptions.
• The fuel crisis is causing economic and social strain, impacting sectors such as agriculture, aviation, and transportation, with concerns that prolonged diesel shortages could trigger broader food and economic crises in Russia.
• Russian authorities have imposed restrictions on fuel sales and limited public discussion of the shortages, while pro-Kremlin media downplay the crisis; however, the strikes have brought the realities of the war closer to Russian citizens, particularly in Moscow.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy frames the refinery attacks as “long-range sanctions” and urges Russian citizens to pressure their government, reflecting the broader information and propaganda battle between the two countries.