Drivers in Crimea were turned away from petrol stations in June. Russian-backed authorities in the occupied peninsula stopped selling fuel to the public after a run of Ukrainian strikes on oil sites.
Governor Sergey Aksyonov said individuals and businesses would be refused service and that fuel would go only to government agencies that keep Crimea’s “functioning and security”. Supplies were already rationed. Shortages had built up as Ukraine went after supply routes in Russian-occupied territory, and the BBC described this as the peninsula’s most significant fuel restriction so far. “Further decisions regarding the current situation in the republic’s fuel market will be announced at a later date,” Aksyonov said.
Kerch depot and a ferry
Aksyonov said a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot in Kerch overnight killed four people and injured 28. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike a “just response to Russia’s brutal attacks”.
He added that Kyiv had also hit an oil transportation logistics facility in Russia’s Krasnodar region, across the Kerch Strait from Crimea. Local authorities there said one person died on a passenger ferry. Zelensky said military logistics sites and radar systems were struck too, without saying where.
“Russia understands only strength, and our long-range strength is certainly working for peace,” he wrote on X.
Russia’s side of the ledger was grim as well. Zelensky said at least seven people were killed in Russian attacks over the weekend, and more than 30 were injured, children among them. Russia’s defence ministry reported shooting down 239 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Why fuel
Crimea matters to Moscow because its forces have launched strikes from the peninsula toward the rest of Ukraine. Progress toward a ceasefire has stalled more than four years after the full-scale invasion, and both sides have stepped up attacks in recent months.
Kyiv’s stated aim is to starve Moscow’s war chest by hitting fuel exports. It also wants to disrupt Russian civilian life enough to push President Vladimir Putin toward the negotiating table. There is little sign he is ready: he turned down Zelensky’s request for face-to-face talks in early June.
The pattern is not new. On the evening of May 7, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces announced a string of strikes across Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, carried out with the Deep Strike Center. Operators from the 1st Center hit railway fuel tankers and an underground fuel store in Luhansk region, while the K-2 20th Brigade struck a fuel and lubricants depot in the same region. Defense Express noted that cutting fuel supplies can badly hurt Russian mobility, logistics and operational tempo.
The same announcement listed two Buk-M3 air defense systems hit in Donetsk region and a Strela-10 unit in Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian forces called this an “air defense hunt” and said nine elements of Russian air defense systems were struck in the first week of May alone.
Each side expects an answer to every strike. In Kyiv and beyond, people are bracing for Russia’s response to the Kerch attack.
Sources
- Fuel sales halted in occupied Crimea as Ukraine targets oil facilities
- Ukrainian Drone Forces Hit russian Buk-M3 Systems, Strela-10 Unit, Fuel Depots and Ammo Storage (Video) | Defense Express
