Published: · Region: Eastern Europe · Category: markets

Russia’s Fuel Shortage Turns Violent as Refinery Strikes Trigger Gas Station Fights in Volgograd

Southern Russia is seeing fistfights at gas pumps as shortages, queues and rationing bite in Volgograd after repeated Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries. The scenes show how a remote drone campaign is translating into daily stress for drivers, haulers and farmers—and into a creeping vulnerability for the Kremlin at home.

Russia’s war is increasingly being felt not only along the front but at ordinary fuel pumps, as people in Volgograd resort to fighting in gas station queues amid deepening shortages linked to Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries. Video from the southern city shows drivers clashing at a filling station, underscoring how frayed tempers have become after months of intermittent supply. Stations in parts of southern Russia have imposed purchase limits, with queues reportedly stretching for kilometers and some motorists camping overnight in their vehicles to secure fuel. The immediate trigger is damage and disruption at Russian refineries hit by Ukrainian drones in recent months, particularly in the south and…

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