Fuel shortages are worsening across Russian-occupied Crimea as Ukraine steps up attacks on the transport routes and energy infrastructure that Moscow relies on to supply the peninsula.
Residents have reported lengthy queues at petrol stations, rising prices, and limits on purchases, with some motorists waiting for hours to fill their tanks. In many areas, fuel is only available through prepaid vouchers, and customers are restricted to 20 litres at a time.
The disruption has also affected public transport and tourism. Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, remains a popular summer destination for Russian holidaymakers. Some visitors have struggled to find enough petrol for the journey home, prompting Moscow-installed authorities to introduce a hotline for stranded travellers.
“Unfortunately, it does not appear possible to fully satisfy the demand for fuel at the current moment,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said on 5 June. He added that hundreds of buses would remain in depots because of the shortages.
The pressure has been intensified by Ukraine’s growing focus on supply routes. Several ferries serving Crimea have been damaged, while the Kerch bridge remains vulnerable following earlier attacks. That has left Russia increasingly dependent on an overland corridor running through occupied Mariupol.
The road “is basically the backbone of Russian occupation in the south,” Clément Molin, an analyst at the French-based think tank Atum Mundi, told the BBC.
Molin said Ukraine had launched around 300 drone attacks on lorries since the start of May, including strikes on 30 fuel tankers. A separate attack on 7 June damaged a bridge in Chohnar in northern Crimea, suspending traffic on a route used by civilians and Russian forces.
The shortages come alongside sustained Ukrainian strikes on refineries and oil depots inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said nearly 40% of Russia’s primary refining capacity was disabled in May.
The disruption is also affecting occupied parts of Luhansk, where bus and coach services on two routes towards Mariupol and Crimea have been suspended. By targeting both production facilities and delivery routes, Ukraine is attempting to make Moscow’s occupation more difficult to sustain.