Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries plunge Russia into a summer
fuel crisis
[July 01, 2026]
By DASHA LITVINOVA
The lines are growing at Russian gas stations -- and so is the
frustration and uncertainty as several months of Ukrainian attacks have
set oil refineries ablaze and choked supplies for motorists across the
vast country.
Fuel rationing has been introduced in many regions, with hourslong
queues of cars snaking beside roads. Social media videos show drivers
aghast at the lines or swearing at empty gas pumps and rising prices.
The mayor of the Siberian city of Irkutsk even ordered portable toilets
brought in to accommodate those in line.
The fuel crisis — unprecedented for a nation that is one of the world's
biggest energy producers — has brought Moscow's full-scale invasion of
Ukraine home to ordinary Russians like few other events in the war, now
in its fifth year.
It drew a rare admission from President Vladimir Putin, who acknowledged
that “problems persist for both motorists and businesses,” and “there
are still queues at petrol stations, and finding the right grade of
petrol isn’t always easy.”
Putin insisted the shortages are “not critical” and “temporary.”
But that appeared to do little to reassure at least one motorist in
Moscow, the wealthy capital typically better-insulated from economic
shocks than the rest of the country.
“I think the situation is not very good,” the motorist waiting in line
told The Associated Press on Monday, the day after Putin's televised
remarks.
“They say one thing on television, and in reality it’s another. ...
People are queueing everywhere,” he added, declining to identify himself
out of concern for his safety.
Ukraine hits energy targets multiple times
An AP count shows over 50 reported attacks by Ukraine on oil refineries,
depots, terminals and other oil infrastructure in Russia and the
illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula since late March. Often, the same
facility is hit more than once -– such as the refinery in the Black Sea
town of Tuapse, which was struck four times in just over two weeks.
As a result, the amount of crude oil Russia processed into fuel in June
was down 25% from a year ago, to 3.95 million barrels per day — the
lowest level in over two decades, said Gary Peach, oil markets analyst
at Energy Intelligence.
“The outages are extraordinary,” he said.
Gasoline production has fallen 17% to 850,000 barrels a day, from 1.03
million a day a year ago — far short of what’s needed for the domestic
market. Russia exports relatively little gasoline.
About a third of Russia's oil refining capacity is offline, said Chris
Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy, noting that because
refineries don't publicly confirm the extent of the damage, his estimate
comes from anecdotal evidence and oil industry sources.
“It comes at a very critical time for the Russian economy, in that the
agriculture season, particularly the harvest season, is now starting to
ratchet up,” increasing demand, Weafer said.
Ukrainian officials describe the strikes as a campaign to pressure
Moscow to end the war by undermining its military logistics and supply
lines and weakening its ability to mount assaults along the front.
In particular, Kyiv has sought to isolate Crimea, which was seized from
Ukraine in 2014 in a move that most nations do not recognize. Attacks
earlier this year forced the Moscow-installed authorities to enact fuel
rationing on the peninsula in May and halt sales to civilians there
altogether several weeks later. Limited sales later resumed in the city
of Sevastopol.
Attacks — and fuel shortages — spread
Ukraine has carried out major drone strikes on Russia’s two largest
cities, embarrassing the Kremlin with images of black plumes of smoke
that circulated widely online, despite regulations restricting their
publication.
A June 3 attack on an oil terminal in St. Petersburg darkened the sky as
Putin prepared to host his annual economic forum to attract foreign
investment. On June 18, a similar cloud rose from the Moscow Oil
Refinery on the outskirts of the capital, sending greasy black droplets
raining down.
By late June, some form of gas rationing was reported in over half of
Russia's regions. Some of them slapped strict limits on all gas
stations; in others, gas station chains limited how much fuel could be
bought.
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Cars line up at a Lukoil gas station in Moscow, Monday, June 29,
2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Officials blamed hoarding and panic-buying, urging motorists to fill
their tanks only when needed.
Exports of gasoline and aviation fuel have been restricted, and
authorities weighed banning diesel fuel exports, too.
Importing fuel was being considered, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov saying contacts with some countries were “underway.” He
described the move as “another step toward stabilizing the market
and aimed at reducing panic-buying.”
Shortages in Siberia
The shortages have reached distant Russian regions where no
refineries have been hit by Ukraine's drones.
Viktor Shkurenko, who owns retail stores in the Omsk region and
other businesses, called announcement on limits on gasoline sales
there to 40 liters (10.5 gallons) per vehicle “unexpected.”
“Nothing was bombed here. We have the biggest oil refinery in
Siberia right here, and it gave us confidence that this fuel crisis
won’t come to us,” he said, expressing worry about how limits could
affect his businesses. As of Saturday, however, he said his company
has not had any problems refueling its vehicles.
In the Siberian region of Zabayakalye, east of Lake Baikal, media
reports said a garbage hauler suspended pickups and some bus
services were curtailed.
In addition to ordering portable toilets outside gas stations, the
city of Irkutsk raised public transport fares as of Wednesday,
citing rising fuel costs.
Pavel Kharitonenko, acting head of the Irkutsk branch of the
opposition Yabloko party, told AP he now finds it easier to walk or
use public transport.
“I don't have the fuel, and I don't want to queue at gas stations,”
he said. The Irkutsk region, home to a Rosneft oil refinery, has
experienced acute shortages for several days, with lines growing,
Kharitonenko said.
Repairing refineries will take time
Putin said Russia's stockpiles of gasoline are only 4% lower than
what it had last year. Weafer, the analyst, says that "reportedly,
there are good supplies of fuel around the country. The problem is
it’s in the wrong place."
Supplies need to be reallocated to regions experiencing shortages,
and in a big country like Russia, “it's not something that can be
done overnight," Weafer said.
“There should be enough, but it will take several weeks to get it
from where it is to where it’s needed,” he says. “It’s just a huge
logistics operation to do that.”
Fixing the war-damaged refineries is complicated. Ukraine's attacks
damaged specialized equipment that is often sourced abroad, making
repairs time-consuming and expensive as workarounds or replacements
are sought by evading sanctions.
“They manage to get these things up and running, not necessarily at
full capacity,” Peach said. “But the extent of the damage this time
is so extensive that they won’t get back to winter levels of
refining this summer.”
Some refineries won't be worth repairing until there’s a ceasefire
or armistice, he said, because they will just "get knocked down
again.”
Repairing the Moscow Oil Refinery, which supplied 40% of the fuel to
the capital and the surrounding region, is expected to take at least
three months, Weafer said.
If there's no further damage to Russia's oil infrastructure, he
estimated the shortages will last “probably throughout the summer"
because demand from agriculture will likely remain high into
September.
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Associated Press writers David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and
Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
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