Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly admitted that Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure are creating fuel shortages inside Russia, describing the country as going through "a difficult period" while insisting the situation remains manageable. In a Kremlin-published interview on Sunday, Putin acknowledged that attacks on Russian infrastructure "create problems" and are producing "a certain shortage" of fuel, though he stressed it was "not critical." His remarks mark a rare admission from Moscow that Ukraine's long-range campaign is having a tangible impact on daily life inside Russia.

Ukraine has significantly stepped up strikes on Russian oil refineries and energy facilities in recent months as part of a deliberate strategy to drain the resources funding Moscow's war effort, now in its fifth year following Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion. On Sunday alone, Ukrainian drones struck two major refineries: the Slavyansk-na-Kubani facility in Russia's southern Krasnodar region — which processes nearly four million tonnes of crude oil per year and supplies fuel through Black Sea ports — and a refinery near Yaroslavl, a city roughly 700 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, capable of producing over 15 million tonnes of petroleum products annually, including aviation fuel and diesel critical to Russian military logistics. One person was killed and another wounded in the Krasnodar strike.

The cumulative effect of the campaign is now visible across Russia. Fuel rationing has been introduced in multiple regions, including the remote Siberian region of Irkutsk — thousands of kilometres from the front lines — where drivers at state-run Rosneft stations are limited to 50 litres per vehicle per day. Long queues have formed at petrol stations in Moscow. Putin held a crisis meeting with senior officials on the shortages and said he was considering a ban on diesel exports, having already restricted exports of kerosene and petrol earlier this month. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow was reviewing fuel export agreements to prioritise domestic supply. In Russian-occupied Crimea — the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move not recognised by most of the international community — authorities declared an emergency situation after Ukrainian strikes disrupted supply chains and damaged energy infrastructure, leaving roughly half the peninsula without electricity.

Speaking at a congress of his United Russia party, Putin vowed to "overcome all the challenges" facing the country, including what he termed "terrorist attacks" on Russian territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky framed the strikes differently, calling them "long-range sanctions" that reduce the resources available to "the Russian war machine" and bring Ukraine "another step toward peace." Zelensky has said he approved a 40-day offensive campaign aimed at pressuring Russia toward ending the war. Western analysts say the strikes have slowed Russian battlefield operations and increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate. Meanwhile, Russia continued its own bombardment of Ukraine overnight, launching 142 drones and eight missiles, of which Ukrainian air defences intercepted the vast majority.