“n
While Ukraine bombs, Russians wait in line. The long lines at gas stations that were just a distant anecdote a month ago have turned into a daily scene in Moscow, as the Ukrainian drone campaign against refineries and oil terminals begins to directly impact the daily lives of Russian citizens.
n” “nA CNN analysis signed by Matthew Chance maintains that, for the first time in more than four years of war, the reality of the conflict has become impossible for ordinary Russians to ignore. According to the report, Russia intercepted 660 drones in a single night last week, spread across 12 regions, one of the largest Ukrainian attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. The targets are not random: refineries, oil terminals, ships, and weapons factories deep within Russian territory, in a campaign designed to bleed the Kremlin’s war economy.
n” “nRows that cannot be hidden
n” “nVehicles line up to refuel at a Rosneft station in Rostov-on-Don, amid gasoline shortages in Russia.
n” “nIndependent media have been documenting long lines of vehicles at Russian gas stations, scenes that the authorities would prefer to keep hidden. In Crimea, fuel sales were suspended and the peninsula was declared in a state of emergency.
We recommend reading: Three dead in Russia as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks
n” “nTestimonies collected by Reuters in Moscow on Monday confirm the picture: motorists had to wait in lines of between 20 minutes and an hour to refuel. “The situation is bad. There are queues everywhere. Some places have no gasoline at all: you can pass three stations without fuel. Then you have to queue. You can wait an hour, two hours, or 30 minutes, it depends on your luck,” recounted Moscow resident Maria. Taxi driver Marat, for his part, said he started avoiding long trips: “I try not to accept trips to the Moscow region because I know there won’t be any gasoline to return, or I will have to queue again.”
n” “nThe problem is not limited to the capital. In the Bryansk region, a video showed lines of up to 700 vehicles waiting for fuel. In the Rostov-on-Don region, long queues were also seen at gas stations.
Long lines of 700 cars to refuel in the Bryansk region
n” “nPutin acknowledges the problem, but does not yield
n” “nPutin himself admitted the shortage at an emergency meeting over the weekend. “You are aware that problems persist for drivers and for companies,” the president told officials. “Unfortunately, there are also queues at gas stations,” he added. According to Reuters, despite the shortage, prices remained practically unchanged at large stations operated by state oil companies, according to the Moscow Fuel Association.
n” “nRussian President Vladimir Putin meets with the governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, at the Kremlin (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters)
n” “nPutin also revealed that a total ban on diesel exports is being evaluated —after his own deputy prime minister had publicly ruled out that measure— and confirmed that a special working group was created to address the crisis.
n” “nHowever, according to CNN‘s analysis, it would be a mistake to think that the current difficulties will force the Kremlin to give in, at least not anytime soon. Putin spent decades building an image as an uncompromising leader, which makes any capitulation, withdrawal, or even compromise in Ukraine very difficult.
n” “nBetween humor and fed-upness
n” “nA woman celebrates euphorically upon finding a gas station
n” “nThe crisis also found its viral side. On social media, a video of a Russian woman celebrating euphorically upon finding a station with fuel available is circulating, in contrast to the widespread shortage. And there is no shortage of memes: one of the most shared shows Putin in an interview, but instead of microphones in front of him, there are gas pumps, an irony about how the shortage became the true protagonist of the Russian situation. Putin interviewed with gas pumps, one of the memes that went viral amidst the fuel crisis in Russia.
More Read
The shortage situation deepened this Tuesday, when Ukraine launched a new wave of drones against Moscow and the border region of Belgorod. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, air defenses intercepted 419 devices overnight, in an attack that left at least two dead —including a six-month-old baby in the Moscow region— and that once again targeted strategic infrastructure, such as a drone manufacturing plant and a satellite communications center in the city of Dubna.
n”
