Russia Domestic — 2026-06-08

Russia Imposes Fuel Rationing in Moscow and Crimea as Ukrainian Strikes Cripple Refining Capacity

BLUFUkrainian strike pressure on Russian refining infrastructure has forced retail fuel rationing into Moscow itself, and shortfalls will very likely persist or widen to additional cities through July.

Ukrainian drone strikes on the R-280 "Novorossiya" highway disrupted Crimea's primary overland fuel corridor by late May, exhausting supplies at Sevastopol stations and prompting Kremlin-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov to impose coupon-based rationing at 20 liters per driver per day 12. By early June, Lukoil, Gazprom, and ORTK chains had introduced per-driver purchase limits at Moscow stations after Ukrainian strikes curtailed output at refining plants covering roughly a quarter of national capacity and over 30 percent of gasoline production, The Moscow Times reported 3. Fortune, citing Bloomberg, separately reported that Kremlin finance officials warned Putin the budget deficit had reached 5.9 trillion rubles through April, about 50 percent above the full-year forecast 4.

Analysis
Purchase limits now running at Moscow chain stations signal that strike pressure on Russian refining has crossed from regional disruption into a structural supply crisis, with facilities covering roughly a quarter of national capacity and over 30 percent of gasoline output offline. Three independently reporting primary outlets with no credible Kremlin restoration signal anchor a moderate-confidence assessment that rationing will very likely persist in Moscow or extend to at least one additional major Russian city by July 31. Caps reaching 150 liters per transaction exceed any passenger tank, and the measures may instead target panic-buying rather than genuine node depletion. If the rationing footprint expands, analysts assessing campaign effectiveness should advance timelines for fuel-based military logistics degradation and sharpen focus on diesel shortfalls, which ISW assesses as more consequential than gasoline.

4 sources