KYIV, April 30 – Russia is running low on fuel with gasoline prices rising 20% over the past four months following a wave of successful Ukrainian drone strikes deep into the Russian territory, POLITICO reported.

Diesel prices for Russian consumers have skyrocketed, rising almost 10 percent in the past week alone, according to the government’s figures. Gasoline costs have also hit a six-month high, up more than 20% from the start of the year as supply tightens and more and more facilities are forced to suspend production.

Two fuel storage facilities owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft, around 500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, were severely damaged by drones last week. More than a dozen refineries across nine Russian regions have been similarly hit this year, with officials in Kyiv saying the industry is a legitimate war target.

“It’s like a mosquito — when you can’t find it, can’t kill it and it keeps coming back night after night, you’re going to be exhausted," Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and NATO planner, said. “It’s a very good way of taking the pressure off from the front lines."

As a result, Moscow has scaled back its fuel exports to near-historic lows, shipping just over 712,000 tons of diesel and gasoil last week, compared to more than 844,000 during the same week in 2023.

It's both a political and military problem for Moscow. As well as being essential for Russia's war effort, cheap fuel is a key part of President Vladimir Putin's offer to the public, an antidote to lagging wages and a weak ruble.

The trend appears here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Igor Yushkov, an analyst with Russia’s National Energy Security Fund, said prices were unlikely to go down anytime soon — and the country may even need to import gasoline from reserves stored in neighboring Belarus, the report said.

While most Western countries have stopped importing refined Russian fuel like petrol and diesel, the United Arab Emirates, along with a handful of South American and North African nations, have continued to buy it either to take advantage of low prices or re-export it. Now, Moscow will have to choose between maximizing the cash flow filling its war chest or ensuring its soldiers and civilians can fill up their tanks.

“Ukraine’s ‘physical sanctions’ can accelerate the actual ones,” Maria Shagina, an expert on the Russian economy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said. “Kyiv has found Moscow’s technological vulnerability and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries speed up the impact of Western sanctions which have seen those refineries already struggle to replace Western equipment, spare parts and software.” (po/ez)