Alyona Sadovnikova spent 18 hours in a fuel line in Irkutsk with her husband and their 18-month-old baby. She joined the queue at 11 p.m. on one Friday and did not get gas until 5 p.m. the next day.
The wait came after months of Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure forced refineries to shut down. Energy analysts have estimated that 25% or more of Russia’s refining capacity has been taken offline, and the Kremlin has banned exports of gasoline and jet fuel to keep more supply at home.
Alyona Sadovnikova in Irkutsk
Sadovnikova said she first noticed the fuel shortage in mid-June, when a gas station would only serve people with ration coupons. She described that moment this way: “Are we in the Soviet Union now where you had to get coupons to buy sausage?”
In Irkutsk, local officials said they would provide portable toilets for Russians waiting in long gas station lines. That detail shows how routine waiting has become part of the shortage, not a one-off delay.
Russia's refinery damage
The head of Russia’s biggest oil company called the damage to refineries “unprecedented” in a leaked letter to Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, Ukraine continued drone strikes at an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, keeping pressure on supply even after the export ban.
Russia has still been forced to rely on imports from India despite being one of the world’s biggest oil producers. That gap helps explain why the market has not settled even with gasoline and jet fuel exports restricted.
Krasnodar and Crimea limits
In Krasnodar, a local official said at least one-third of the gas stations have been shut down. In Crimea, authorities said fuel is now mostly reserved for municipal and emergency services, with public sales halted unless extra supplies are left over. A separate report on fuel shortages in Crimea described the same strain on drivers there.
Putin and Alexander Novak have described the fuel market as “not easy, but controllable,” but the shortage is already reaching motorists far from Ukraine, including in Siberian Irkutsk about 3,000 miles from the war zone. For drivers, that means longer waits, rationing at some stations, and fewer places still selling fuel to the public.
