Russia’s Oil Crisis Deepens as Ukraine Drone Strikes Fuel Shortages—Moscow Weighs Import Plan
Russia is scrambling to ease a domestic fuel crisis after repeated Ukrainian drone strikes on its oil refineries caused supply disruptions, forcing the world’s third-largest crude producer to consider importing petrol and diesel for the first time in years.
According to the Vedomosti daily, Moscow is exploring a plan to import fuel and provide subsidies to cap prices, as several regions report restrictions on sales, rising costs, and long queues at filling stations [180100]. The shortages follow a series of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, which have knocked out refining capacity and created severe supply bottlenecks. The move marks a dramatic reversal for Russia, a major energy exporter now struggling to keep its own motorists fueled.
The fuel crisis comes as Russian forces tighten their grip on eastern Ukraine. Military analysts warn that if the city of Kostyantynivka falls, Russian troops could advance toward Ukraine’s last remaining strongholds in the Donbas region, severely weakening Ukrainian defenses [180012]. The build-up of Russian forces near the city signals a major push to seize control of the area, a key battleground in the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, tensions continue to escalate across Europe. Swedish defense officials say Russia is increasingly taking political and military risks near Sweden, with the head of operations at the Swedish Armed Forces stating that the military has prepared for scenarios across the entire escalation ladder [177854]. In France, counterintelligence agents arrested a man in early June while he was filming a drone prototype at a factory near Toulouse, as part of a broader investigation into sabotage and espionage attempts suspected to be orchestrated from Russia [178151]. In the United Kingdom, two men with links to Russia were convicted of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on property linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said the case proves the UK is under attack from bad actors seeking to destabilize democracy [175497].
In Belarus, more than 200 political prisoners are currently behind bars for opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine, including teenagers who spray-painted anti-war slogans and railway partisans who disrupted Russian troop trains [179038]. The Belarusian regime has intensified its crackdown, treating any show of support for Ukraine as treason punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Russia has warned it is prepared to take all necessary measures to defend Belarus, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accusing Ukraine of trying to draw its ally into the conflict [179659].