(MOSCOW) – Fuel shortages are spreading across more than 15 Russian regions and public anger is mounting just six weeks before the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s staged election, as Ukraine’s expanding long range strike campaign hammers Russia’s economy and logistics networks.
Protesters gathered outside Russia’s Supreme Court in Moscow as authorities moved to ban yet another political party. Simultaneously, Ukrainian forces continued their extended strike campaign targeting oil refineries and logistics facilities deep inside Russian territory.
A massive fire engulfed the 158,000 square metre Wildberries logistics facility in Voronezh, the company’s fifth largest warehouse. The site processed 1.8 million items daily and was reportedly used to funnel military goods to the front. Wildberries claimed the fire had been extinguished and goods were mostly undamaged, an assertion contradicted by footage showing the facility still burning hours later. VTB Bank, Russia’s second largest lender, holds approximately $20 billion (roughly £15.6 billion, €18.2 billion) in Wildberries debt that analysts suggest may become irrecoverable.
Refinery incidents were reported in Tyumen, Orsk, Nizhnekamsk and other regions. Ukraine’s forces targeted the Orsk oil refinery in Orenburg Oblast, approximately 1,400 to 1,500 kilometres from Ukrainian controlled territory. Built in 1935, the facility has a processing capacity of roughly 120,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. The hydrocracking unit was reportedly struck. The ZapSibNeftekhim facility in the Tyumen region, approximately 2,200 kilometres from Ukraine, was also hit, with its central gas fractionation unit damaged.
Thousands of kilometres farther east, an explosion and fire were reported at a Rosneft refinery in Komsomolsk on Amur in Khabarovsk Krai, near the Pacific coast, roughly 6,500 kilometres from Ukraine and far beyond the demonstrated range of Ukrainian UAV strikes. Russian authorities stated there were no casualties and fuel output continued at full volume, adding there was no confirmation the incident resulted from a Ukrainian strike.
Russia’s gasoline crisis is returning with renewed severity. Videos of motorists queuing for hours have flooded social media from Moscow to Taganrog and Sochi. Rosneft has reported running out of 95 octane fuel in some areas. The shortages come after Russia legalised lower octane gasoline grades, with reports of 67 octane fuel damaging car engines.
Russia’s agricultural sector continues to deteriorate. Arkadiy Zlochevskiy, president of the Russian Grain Union, warned of a “catastrophe” as grain exports have collapsed threefold over recent weeks. Domestic prices have fallen sharply and grain has become illiquid. Shipments through the Sea of Azov, which previously handled up to 40 per cent of exports, have been at a standstill for three weeks following Ukrainian drone attacks on vessels. Total area sown with agricultural crops across all categories of farms has fallen back towards post Soviet lows.
In Tyumen, a water crisis is escalating into a humanitarian emergency. Residents desperate for drinking water have crowded delivery trucks as bottled supplies disappear from stores, with limits of two bottles per person. Similar water infrastructure problems are now being reported in Yekaterinburg, where tanker trucks have been deployed.
Russia’s dependence on North Korea continues to deepen. South Korean media reported plans to complete a training centre for North Korean and Russian special forces in the Voronezh area by the end of the year, including barracks, an underground shooting range and a military dog training ground. Growing numbers of North Korean workers are also being brought into Russia under pre existing agreements.
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