Ukrainian drones disrupt land corridor to occupied Crimea, triggering fuel shortage on peninsula

Ukrainian drone strikes have disrupted traffic on the R-280 “Novorossiya” highway, the main land route linking the Rostov region with occupied Crimea, triggering a gasoline shortage on the peninsula. Gas stations have capped sales at 20 liters per day per driver, and many stations have run out of fuel entirely.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukrainian forces are carrying out a “logistics lockdown” of the Russian military, aimed at increasing pressure on its rear and suppressing its ability to conduct active assault operations.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed head of the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said on May 29 that Ukrainian forces are deploying a “comprehensive remote mining system” in which drones drop explosive devices that detonate on movement. Balitsky asked drivers to “limit trips unless absolutely necessary.”

Nikolai Lukashenko, the transport minister of the occupied portion of the Zaporizhzhia region, said for his part that the highway to Crimea is “operating normally” and that “no long-term closures” have occurred, though traffic on certain stretches can be disrupted “depending on the operational situation.”

Travel along the highway to Crimea through the occupied portion of Ukraine’s Kherson region has been restricted since May 21, under a decree signed by Vladimir Saldo, Russia’s appointed “governor” of the region. Exemptions cover vehicles transporting military cargo, fuel, medicine, and perishable goods.

On May 29, Saldo reported that a KamAZ truck driver was killed when a mine dropped by a drone exploded near the border of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and that several other vehicles were damaged. “The mines were scattered across the roadway and along the shoulders. They detonate on movement, and therefore pose a deadly danger to civilian traffic,” Saldo wrote on Telegram.

Experts who spoke to BBC journalists identified the highway to Crimea as one of the main targets of Ukrainian drones. OSINT researcher Clément Molin of the Atum Mundi think tank said 150 vehicles have been destroyed on the highway — a figure covering only what he was able to verify; the actual toll may be twice as high.

Balitsky said “the enemy is trying to create the illusion of a blockade” by striking the land corridor to Crimea. Saldo compared the Ukrainian strikes to the siege of Leningrad: “This is cynical barbarism. In its cruelty, these actions are reminiscent of the fascist blockade of Leningrad, when the enemy tried to intimidate people, sever connections between territories, and break the will of the civilian population.”

The “Novorossiya” highway runs from Rostov-on-Don through the occupied Ukrainian territories to Simferopol. It is one of the main routes for supplying fuel to Crimea. Gasoline is also transported by ferry across the Kerch Strait, though ferry operations depend on weather conditions. Fuel is not transported across the Crimean Bridge for safety reasons, according to an adviser to the Russian-installed head of Crimea.

The drone strikes have produced a gasoline shortage across Crimea. Sevastopol’s Russia-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev, reported on May 29 that the city’s gas stations had run out of AI-92 and AI-95 grade fuel. Diesel is available, but not at all stations, he added. Razvozhaev promised to restore fuel supplies by May 30 while acknowledging that authorities are managing deliveries “manually.”

Razvozhaev did not explain why gasoline was in short supply, saying only that “logistical difficulties persist, the reasons for which are known.”

Gasoline sales in Crimea are capped at 20 liters per day. The regional Ministry of Fuel and Energy publishes lists of gas stations where fuel is available. The Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, asked residents “not to stockpile gasoline and to refuel their vehicles as normal.”

In December 2025, Aksyonov had promised to prevent a fuel shortage, the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo notes. “We have introduced a new logistics scheme. Now we can be confident that fuel will always be available,” he had said.