In Russia’s grain-growing heartland, farmers are worried they may not be able to bring in their harvests as a fuel crisis — set off by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries and storage facilities — disrupts everyday life across the country.
Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure in an effort to pressure Moscow toward peace talks. The resulting damage has squeezed fuel supplies in a country that is itself rich in oil, triggering restrictions across most regions and growing unrest among the public.
With fuel hard to come by, drivers have turned to crowd-sourced maps and online tips to track down stations that still have gas and shorter wait times. Tempers have flared as well, with videos circulating on social media showing drivers coming to blows while waiting to fill their tanks.
In one widely shared clip titled “The Ultimate Luxury 2026,” a man slowly fills his lawnmower from a jerry can and quips: “What riches. Who can afford this now?”
The desperation is showing up in internet searches too. Online queries for “how to siphon fuel” skyrocketed from 697 searches to more than 9,300 by June 21, according to the website iPhones.ru, which cited data from the search engine Yandex.
The situation is an uncomfortable one for Russian authorities, who had initially tried to dismiss the fuel shortages as isolated supply problems. But social media posts are painting a broader picture — including farmers in the fertile Black Earth region struggling to pay for fuel needed to run their equipment, and one account describing a farmer who had to drive his combine harvester directly to a regular gas station because he wasn’t permitted to fill a container.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm those accounts.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s own energy infrastructure since launching what it calls its special military operation in 2022, leaving millions of Ukrainians without electricity or heat during the winter months.
On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin publicly admitted there were problems and pledged action to steady the fuel market. He stressed the importance of keeping the agricultural sector supplied, saying “the harvest depends on it.”
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Putin’s point person on energy matters, said Wednesday that the issues were being worked through. Reuters also reported exclusively that Russia has begun importing gasoline by sea from India, and that Kazakhstan has agreed to ship 50,000 metric tons of fuel to Russia in July and August.
Even before the shortages worsened last month, a new poll showed Russians were already feeling more economically pessimistic than at any point in the last two decades.
Some regions are already seeing cutbacks in basic services. In the Zabaikalsky region, which borders China and Mongolia, authorities have cancelled certain bus routes and a waste collection company suspended operations in four districts, both citing lack of fuel.
“More scary is how much groceries will cost. All deliveries are done by road,” one person wrote in response to a story about the service cuts on the regional news site Chita.ru. The comment received more than 100 likes.
If the strikes continue and fuel shortages drag on, analysts warn the hardship could chip away at public support for the war, which began in February 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is now in its fifth year.
At a filling station in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday, a resident named Tatiana Sedykh told Reuters she was relieved to be driving a diesel vehicle. “The line for gasoline is just insane,” she said. “I’m starting to think maybe I should begin walking to work.”
