Ukraine escalates attacks on tankers as Russian fuel shortages bite
Cars stand in line for gasoline at the Lukoil gas station in Nakhabino, outside Moscow, Russia, on July 8, 2026. Russia’s cities are experiencing a shortage of automobile fuel due to numerous drone attacks on Ukraine’s oil refineries.
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Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian fuel tankers in the Sea of Azov in a bid to disrupt supplies to occupied Crimea at a time when drone strikes have triggered gasoline shortages across the country.
Robert Brovdi, known as Magyar, commander of Ukraine’s unmanned aerial vehicle force, said: Telegram It was stated that 14 Russian ships were hit in the Sea of Azov on Thursday evening and the number of Russian ships jammed by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles increased to 35 in the last 96 hours. CNBC could not independently verify this report.
The drone strikes form part of Ukraine’s designed campaign to block material and transport routes into and out of Crimea, which Russia seized by force in 2014.
Located off the southern coasts of both Ukraine and Russia, the Sea of Azov is a shallow inland sea located northeast of the Crimean Peninsula.
Defense experts and strategists have called Ukraine’s drone strikes crucial to helping halt Russia’s military momentum, while also warning that Kiev’s deep strike successes greatly increase the risk of escalation.
“The Ukrainians have successfully brought the war into the mentality and reality of Russian life,” Beat Wittmann, president and partner at Porta Advisors, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday. he said.
“The response can be escalated, or it can be withdrawn and negotiated, and historically in those situations the action is of course escalation. [an] It is an increasingly difficult situation and this will happen in the next few months,” Wittmann said.
Ukraine has frequently visited Moscow and St. Petersburg in recent weeks as part of a sustained pressure to cut Russia’s energy revenues. It targeted high-profile oil refineries in major cities such as St. Petersburg.
Earlier this week, Ukraine launched one of the deepest incursions into Russian territory so far in the war.
Plumes of black smoke billowed from a major oil refinery in the city of Omsk on Tuesday, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare that the country’s improved drone capabilities had made Siberia “reachable.”
The Omsk facility is located approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from Ukrainian territory and close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan.
Russia’s economic situation
Long queues have formed at gas stations in Russia as the country struggles with a worsening fuel crisis. In fact, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin recently acknowledged for the first time the impact of Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russia’s fuel production.
Holger Schmieding, Berenberg’s chief economist, said “the cost of the war is rising” for the Kremlin.
Russia’s gross domestic product, or GDP, growth stalled in the first quarter after a sharp slowdown last year and a temporary boost from increased military spending in 2024 and 2023, official data showed.
“While the private sector appears to have contracted due to labor shortages, shortages of some materials and high interest rates, the military sector continues to thrive,” Schmieding said in a research note published Friday. he said.
“Unless the Strait of Hormuz is closed again for a long period of time, unless energy prices and Russian exports rise rapidly, Russia’s economic and financial situation will likely deteriorate further.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is still open to diplomatic talks with Ukraine in question On Friday he accused Kiev of not being willing to move towards a peaceful solution.
A man refuels a car at a Gazpromneft gas station in Moscow on June 24, 2026.
Igor Ivanko | Afp | Getty Images
“Russia remains open to achieving its goals through peaceful political and diplomatic negotiations, and President Putin remains open as well,” Peskov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
“But in cases where this is impossible due to the reluctance of the Kiev regime, we continue the special military operation,” he added.
Ukrainian Zelenskyy wrote open letter Last month, he offered Russia’s Putin talks and said Kiev was ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the talks. Putin responded by saying that there was no point in meeting Zelenskyy in person for now.
