Russian Fuel Tankers Erupting in Flames After a Drone Strike En Route to Crimea, Underscoring the Kremlin's Struggle to Supply Gasoline

Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, posted the video on Telegram, which captured two of three red tankers being hit and engulfed in smoke as they veered off the road. "Crimea is having a hard time getting gasoline, - one out of three…" he wrote. The attack comes amid a summer fuel crisis in Russia, triggered by months of Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries, leading to rationing and long queues at petrol stations in several regions, as reported by the Associated Press.

In late June, President Vladimir Putin admitted shortages were severe, telling a meeting, "You're well aware that problems persist for both motorists and businesses. Unfortunately, there are still queues at petrol stations, and finding the right grade of petrol isn't always easy, while insisting they were "not critical" and "temporary. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky framed the strikes as part of a "long-range sanctions" strategy targeting Russian facilities that "serve the war effort and finance the aggression. On Sunday, he detailed hits on the Saratov Oil Refinery and Engels military air base, over 600 km from the front line, as well as a tank farm in the Kaluga region and a drone storage and launch site in the Bryansk region, adding, "We are bringing the war back to where it came from.