Ukraine Drones Cripple Russian Refineries, Fuel Crisis Grows
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- Ukraine is pounding Russian oil refineries with long-range drone strikes, leading to restrictions on fuel sales, surging gasoline prices, and long lines of cars outside gas stations hundreds of miles from the front lines.
- The Moscow refinery hit repeatedly this week produces more than one-third of the fuel supply for the Russian capital and surrounding region.
- Videos posted to social media Thursday showed a massive fireball erupting from a storage-tank explosion and several fires raging across the refinery complex.
- The Kremlin's strategy of shielding Russian citizens from wartime consequences is facing a growing headache as fuel shortages become visible at gas stations well behind the front lines.
Why it matters: Ukraine's drone strikes hit a Moscow refinery supplying over a third of the capital's fuel, forcing visible gas station shortages on Russian civilians hundreds of miles from the front and directly undermining the Kremlin's stated four-year strategy of insulating citizens from wartime costs.
