Putin admits Ukraine strikes are causing fuel shortages across Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly acknowledged that Ukraine’s long-range strikes are creating fuel supply problems within Russia, as videos obtained by Fox News Digital show long lines, angry drivers and fights breaking out at gas stations in several regions of Russia.

Speaking at a meeting with government ministers and other officials following a series of attacks on Ukraine’s Russian oil infrastructure, Putin said on Sunday that Russia was dealing with them, but attacks on “critical infrastructure” and energy facilities were creating “problems,” including disruptions affecting motorists, businesses and agricultural producers, according to Reuters.

The remarks marked a rare admission by the Kremlin that Ukraine’s long-term campaign is having an impact beyond the battlefield.

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For Ukraine, the fuel crisis is evidence that the long-range attack campaign does more than damage individual facilities. The attacks are forcing Moscow to deal with visible problems at home and revealing the fragility of a country whose global power has long relied on its energy sector.

The famine spread throughout Russia, including occupied Crimea, southern Russia, Siberia, and Moscow. Moscow is also considering emergency measures, including temporarily allowing the production and import of low-quality fuel, daily newspaper Kommersant reported.

Russian opposition figure and former Moscow mayor Maxim Katz told Fox News Digital that fuel shortages are real and are becoming increasingly difficult for Russians to ignore.

“There are real fuel problems in Russia right now,” Katz told Fox News Digital. “I get a lot of reports and I can see this too: It’s difficult. You can’t find fuel or you have to queue. In some cities you have to spend half a day looking for fuel, then they give you very little and you have to queue again.”

Fights are breaking out in gas station queues across Russia after Ukrainian drone strikes triggered chronic fuel shortages. (East2West)

Katz said the shortage appeared to be directly linked to Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s refining capacity.

“They’re bombing the refineries very effectively,” he said. “Putin doesn’t have a way to defend them. There doesn’t seem to be a way to defend them right now, and that’s a big pressure point on Putin.”

Videos obtained by Fox News Digital from Russian news outlet east2west show scenes of frustration at gas stations in Russia, where drivers wait in long lines and argue over shortages. In one of the videos, two women are seen arguing about getting in line; “I was next in line,” one insists, before the conflict escalates into shouting and threats.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on securing fuel supplies for the domestic market in Moscow, Russia, on June 28, 2026. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool, via Reuters)

According to the video, police were called in the Russian city of Serov after a male driver was seen shouting obscenities at several women and then punching one of the women.

In Ryazan, Russia, there is video showing a fight breaking out near a forecourt while drivers wait for fuel. A man is seen leaning against the open window of a hatchback and repeatedly hitting another driver in the Russian city of Irkutsk.

A woman identified only as Tanya, 29, told east2west she waited 13 hours in Siberia to buy half a tank of fuel and blamed Putin’s war for the chaos.

“We must stop this senseless conflict and let us live normally,” he said.

Ukraine is increasingly using long-range drones to target Russian oil refineries, warehouses and supply routes hundreds of kilometers from its border. Ukraine hit two Russian oil refineries overnight, one in the Russian city of Krasnodar and the other in the Russian city of Yaroslavl, Reuters reported on Sunday. Kiev continues to target infrastructure linked to Moscow’s war effort.

‘PURE HELL’ IN MOSCOW AS UKRAINIAN DRAINS HIT THE MAJOR REFINERY THAT SUPPLY THE CAPITAL’S FUEL MARKET

The Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya burns after being hit during a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital on June 18, 2026. (East2West)

Katz said the fuel shortage comes with deeper economic pressures caused by the war, including high domestic debt, high interest rates and a budget increasingly reliant on military spending.

“The entire economy is now based on war,” Katz said. “War produces nothing. Nothing comes back from it. So what’s left is a big hole.”

He said Russia was not yet on the brink of collapse, but the distress was “growing” as economic officials warned spending may have to be cut as the budget deficit becomes harder to narrow.

This assessment was confirmed to Fox News Digital by a European intelligence source who said economic pressure was working effectively.

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Cars line up at a gas station to buy fuel after authorities restricted the sale of fuel due to a supply shortage following Ukraine’s attack on logistics routes in Sevastopol, Crimea, on June 1, 2026, during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Reuters)

Fox News Digital has reached out to Russian and Ukrainian spokespeople for comment.

Reuters contributed to this story.