The Fuel Crisis Spreading Across Russia: Rationing Reaches Moscow After Relentless Drone Strikes

By mid-June 2026, a fuel crisis that began in occupied Crimea and the far east has arrived in the heart of Russia. Motorists in Moscow and St. Petersburg are now facing strict purchase limits at major gas station chains, the most visible symptom of a refining industry battered by months of sustained Ukrainian drone attacks. The campaign has achieved what sanctions alone could not: physically degrading Russia's ability to turn crude oil into usable fuel for its domestic market .

Russia's Energy Ministry has acknowledged "temporary difficulties" with fuel supplies in southern regions, attributing them directly to an increase in aerial attacks on energy infrastructure . Behind that bureaucratic language lies a sharper reality. Industry data shows that since January, the country has lost roughly 40% of its primary refining capacity, and refinery runs in May collapsed to a level not seen since 2009 .

Refining output hits a 17-year low

The production numbers are stark. Russian refineries processed 4.58 million barrels per day (bpd) in May 2026, according to Bloomberg data cited by The Moscow Times. That is a 17-year low and a 14.4% drop from the start of the year . April had already been grim, with Rosstat officially reporting a 9.2% year-on-year decline in refinery output .

The damage is concentrated: at least 16 Ukrainian strikes hit Russian oil facilities in May alone, successfully striking eight of the country’s ten largest refineries. The IEA had previously cut its 2026 forecast for Russian throughput by 150,000 bpd, citing the "increasingly effective" Ukrainian campaign .

The squeeze on refining is also pulling down crude production. Russian output fell for a sixth consecutive month in May, dipping to 9.009 million bpd — about 690,000 bpd below its OPEC+ quota — as damaged storage and transport infrastructure made it harder to sustain higher flows .

Rationing arrives in Moscow and St. Petersburg

Fuel purchase limits, once confined to occupied territories and remote eastern regions, spread decisively to Russia's largest cities in early June.

Multiple major retail chains have now imposed caps :

• Tatneft stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg are restricting AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline to as little as 20 liters per customer, with diesel capped at 40 liters.
• ORTK, which manages dozens of stations in the capital area, limits sales to 60 liters of gasoline and 100 liters of diesel per person.
• Gazprom has set a broader limit of 100 to 150 liters per vehicle, while Lukoil caps gasoline at 100 liters per driver.
• In occupied Crimea, the situation is even more severe: authorities have introduced fuel coupons, and AI-95 gasoline is available only through that rationing system .

The geography of the crisis now spans at least 20 federal subjects, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Kursk, Tatarstan, and several illegally occupied Ukrainian regions such as Crimea and parts of Luhansk Oblast . In occupied Luhansk, a 20-liter cap was imposed on June 2, mirroring the restrictions already in place in Crimea .

For ordinary Russians, the shortages mean long queues at gas stations, particularly along major highways. BBC Verify has documented extensive lines along the Moscow–St. Petersburg corridor . In some regions, stations have simply run dry .

A direct hit on the Tamanneftegaz terminal

The latest major strike came on the night of June 12–13, when Ukrainian forces hit the Tamanneftegaz oil and gas terminal in Krasnodar Krai . Ukrainian military officials confirmed damage to five oil product tanks, two oil tankers, and air defense systems at the site . NASA's FIRMS satellite data verified heat anomalies at the terminal following the attack .

Tamanneftegaz is a critical piece of Russia's southern export infrastructure. Located near the Port of Taman on the Black Sea coast, the facility has the capacity to handle up to 20 million tons of oil and petroleum products per year . It is a major transshipment hub for liquefied hydrocarbons, and repeated strikes on the site—including an earlier attack in February that damaged storage and warehouse infrastructure—have disrupted both export flows and domestic distribution routes .

This was no isolated incident. Earlier in June, Ukrainian drones struck the St. Petersburg oil terminal, one of the largest fuel export complexes in the Baltic region with a throughput capacity of 10 million tons per year . On June 12, attacks also targeted refineries and petrochemical plants in Tatarstan and Samara Oblast .

Export bans and the strain on the war economy

With domestic supply tightening, Moscow is resorting to export restrictions. The government is preparing to ban jet fuel exports for one to two months, according to Interfax . This follows earlier bans on gasoline exports, which have been extended repeatedly since 2025 .

The crisis adds a new dimension to the economic pressure already exerted by Western sanctions. As Fortune reported in early June, fuel rationing in Moscow and key regions compounds the strain on Russia's war economy by squeezing the logistics that support both military and civilian operations .

Whether the situation represents a temporary disruption or a chronic condition remains an open question. Some analysts caution that for the localized shortages to become a truly nationwide crisis, Ukrainian forces would need to intensify their campaign further . Others are less sanguine. The IEA's models, already revised downward, suggest refinery processing rates will remain suppressed through at least mid-2026 as damaged plants struggle to secure replacement parts and complete repairs under sanctions .

For now, the clearest sign of the crisis is in the numbers posted at Russian filling stations: 20 liters, 40 liters, 50 liters. For a country that ranks among the world's top three oil producers, those limits are a measure of just how effectively Ukraine's drone war has rewritten the rules of energy security.