Crimea is staring down more fuel shortages, according to reports, despite Russia—one the world's largest oil exporters—controlling the annexed peninsula.
Crimean residents are paying much higher prices for scarce diesel supplies, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. In an accompanying video appearing to show a gas station in Crimea, a female voice asks, "What is happening to gas stations in Crimea?"
"Many regions in Russia also experience gas shortages," Gerashchenko added in the video caption.
In late August, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Crimea was facing a gas shortage following a Ukrainian strike on the Kerch Bridge, which connects mainland Russia to Crimea, the previous month. Residents said some gas stations had run entirely out of supplies, the outlet reported.
Russian state newspaper Izvestia reported on August 22 that "more and more regions of Russia" were experiencing shortages at gas stations.
"This is due to delays in delivery by rail – trains from Central Russia with petroleum products take several weeks longer than usual, which is why there is a shortage of supplies," an unnamed source described as a "business representative," told Izvestia.
In late August, Reuters reported that Russia also faced fuel shortages across its mainland southern regions as its agricultural sector grappled for fuel supplies for the harvest season. Russia's fuel market was damaged by problems transporting fuel via rail, oil refinery maintenance, and a weak ruble, according to the news agency.
Residents of temporarily occupied Crimea complain that diesel has disappeared from the peninsula. When they manage to find it, the prices are much higher than they used to be.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 11, 2023
Many regions in Russia also experience gas shortages. pic.twitter.com/mn7v2AAYom
Several Russian regions, including Krasnodar and the Samara region, reported low or no fuel sales such as diesel, Reuters reported, citing local Russian traders.
"The situation is very critical, patience is running out, nerves are losing, people are ready to go out and block roads," Sergei Kolesnikov, the Association of Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives chairman in Russia's Stavropol region told local media.
Separately on Monday, Ukraine's Military Intelligence Agency said it had claimed control of the "Boika Towers," oil and gas drilling platforms off the Crimean coast in the Black Sea.
Russia had seized control of the rigs in 2015, Ukraine's GUR said in a statement, adding that Moscow had used them "for military purposes."
The GUR said that the operation to retake the "Boika Towers" saw waterborne Ukrainian special forces engage with a Russian Su-30 fighter jet. "As a result of the battle, the Russian plane was damaged and had to retreat," the military intelligence agency added.
