Kremlin Blocks Gasoline Exports as Ukraine Drone Attacks Fuel Sales in Russian-Occupied Crimea

Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian logistics has contributed to a fuel crisis that has pushed the Kremlin to block exports of gasoline until the end of the year, leaving pumps in Crimea and much of Russia “always more a secco,” according to Eurofocus.

“The Russian occupation authorities in Crimea have announced new restrictions on petrol sales, under which fuel can no longer be purchased by anyone except representatives of the administration”

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Eurofocus says the Kremlin’s move follows attacks by Ukrainian drones on “raffinerie, pompe di benzina e treni di carburante russi,” and it cites the Ukrainian air force claim that it struck multiple production sites, including a Gazprom refinery in Bashkortostan.

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The immediate impact in Crimea is described by Crypto Briefing as a complete suspension of fuel sales to private individuals and businesses on June 21, with only state agencies handling essential services allowed to buy fuel.

BBC reports that in Sevastopol, a resident said he had bought a back-up generator but “now had nothing to power it with as petrol was no longer available,” after Russian-installed leader Sergei Aksyonov announced that all sales at petrol stations were suspended.

Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert describes how Kremlin-appointed authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea have halted fuel sales to the public in recent days and imposed restrictions “from tourist activities to street lighting” as a Ukrainian drone strike campaign to cut off the region “continues to gain momentum.”

The same Atlantic Council piece says Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov launched a “logistics lockdown” and vowed to turn the occupied Ukrainian peninsula into an island.

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Crypto Briefing says Aksyonov announced the June 21 suspension via Telegram and that early June had already brought rationing measures that limited transaction sizes and restricted cash sales, with long queues forming at gas stations across the peninsula.

BBC adds that authorities in Sevastopol went beyond fuel restrictions, with public transport, shops, and cafes operating only by day and street lights being kept off at night, while one resident complained that “It’s unclear how long this will last, and as for getting to work, I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do.”

The fuel crisis is portrayed by Eurofocus as spreading beyond Crimea, with Izvestia reporting that stations in different Russian regions began rationing gasoline and diesel by limiting how much each customer could buy.

Eurofocus also says Kommersant reported that about half of the pumps in Crimea were out of use due to the shortage, and it describes a Telegram channel, Crimean Wind, saying Sevastopol was “completely without benzina.”

BBC links the worsening situation in Crimea to Ukraine’s campaign targeting bridges and other connections, and it notes that “At least six bridges targeted by Ukraine in June have been identified by BBC Verify by satellite imagery and in drone video shared by Ukrainian forces.”

In the same BBC account, a resident described the daily reality of the broader isolation effort, saying, “People are just getting by... water comes once every three days,” while another line in the report states, “There's very little petrol, and it's the most expensive,” as the fuel crisis expanded into Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.