Vladimir Putin calls the damage to Russian refineries “not critical”. In Crimea, gasoline sales to private motorists have stopped altogether.
Ukraine has carried out more than 50 reported attacks since March on refineries and other energy sites, in Russia proper and in occupied Crimea. Kyiv’s leaders say the aim is to push Moscow toward ending the war. Chris Weafer, chief executive of the consultancy Macro-Advisory, estimates that about one-third of Russian refining capacity is now offline, and he describes the damage as lasting and costly to fix.
Queues and rationing
Russian government statistics put gasoline output down by about 17 per cent, to 850,000 barrels a day. Many regions have introduced rationing. Drivers wait hours to fill a tank.
One of Moscow’s main refineries has been struck twice, despite heavy air defences around the capital. The second hit, on June 18, started a fire and damaged key equipment, which is reportedly not expected to be back before the end of the year.
Putin met government officials over the weekend to discuss the shortages. On television he described a “difficult period”. He promised quicker repairs at damaged plants, said Moscow would consider buying petrol abroad to cover what he called “temporary” gaps, and told the arms industry to build more air defence systems.
No ceasefire
He framed the strikes as an attempt to split Russian society, slow the offensive and force talks on “terms advantageous to our adversary”. “We will not give them that chance,” he said. Long-range attacks on oil facilities, in his words, “have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front”.
Western military analysts see it differently. They say Ukrainian mid-range strikes on Russian troops have tangled supply lines and slowed the advance, leaving the front in a stalemate. Putin insists his forces are still gaining ground along the line of roughly 1,000 kilometres, and in a state television interview he pointed to small villages and even individual streets.
Ceasefire offers from Kyiv and its Western allies get the same answer. A truce, Putin says, would only let Ukrainian soldiers rest and regroup. He ties any halt to Ukraine pulling out of the part of Donetsk it still holds, which Kyiv refuses to do. A final settlement, he says, would require Ukraine to give up its NATO bid, shrink its military and protect Russian language and culture.
When President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to meet, Putin told him to come to Moscow. Ukraine regards that as unacceptable.
In the same interview, Putin said Kyiv had suggested confining the fighting to Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the four regions Russia has annexed but never fully captured. He turned it down, arguing that Ukrainian units from elsewhere could then reinforce the south-east. “Faced with a catastrophic shortage of personnel, the armed forces of Ukraine apparently believe this could be their salvation,” he said. “Saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans.” The Kremlin said the idea came through confidential channels. Ukrainian officials have not discussed it publicly.
He also refused a Ukrainian offer to stop deep strikes on each other’s territory, calling Russian attacks far inside Ukraine “much more powerful, sensitive and, frankly speaking, destructive”.
Kyiv, and the polls
On Thursday Russia pounded Kyiv for 11 hours overnight. At least 21 people died, making it one of the deadliest attacks on the city since the full-scale invasion began. Russia said it was aiming at military sites, but residential areas were hit again. Most Ukrainian strikes inside Russia have gone after oil facilities, weapons factories and other military targets. A United Nations tally counts more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians killed in the war.
At home, Putin’s numbers have slipped. VCIOM, the state pollster, found his job approval at 66.9% in its survey of June 22-28, down from 70.4% the week before. Disapproval rose from 19.7% to 21.3%, and trust fell from 76.7% to 73.3%. It was his weakest showing since the 2022 invasion, though he remains by far the most popular political leader in the poll and his party, United Russia, still leads voting intentions.
Sources
- Putin shrugs off refinery strikes as fuel shortages grow and ceasefire stalls
- Putin under pressure but history tells us most Russian leaders die with their boots on
