Fuel crisis hits occupied Crimea as Ukrainian drones restrict overland supply route
Authorities in occupied Crimea announced that starting May 30, sales of AI-95, a premium-grade gasoline, would be capped at 20 liters per person per day.
“I ask Crimeans not to stockpile gasoline and to refuel their vehicles as usual,” said Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s appointed head of the republic.
Crimea’s Ministry of Fuel and Energy posted a list of gas stations where gasoline was available as of May 29 (.pdf). The list covers 148 stations across the peninsula; at most of them, various grades are available only in rationed amounts.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the region’s Russian-installed governor, said all grades of gasoline had disappeared from pumps by Friday morning, with diesel in limited supply, and that sales would resume Saturday.
The fuel crisis in Crimea began after Ukrainian drone strikes restricted traffic along the so-called land bridge into the peninsula, the independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported. The route through Russia’s 2022 territorial gains had been one of Crimea’s main fuel arteries.
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