Since late summer, residents in many Russian regions have been reporting gasoline shortages and soaring fuel prices. Drivers wait in long lines at the pump and vent online, while small, independent gas stations have been forced to shut down entirely because buying fuel on the exchange has become prohibitively expensive. The independent outlet Cherta Media examined what’s driving Russia’s fuel crisis, who’s being hit hardest, and whether things might soon return to normal. Meduza shares an English-language adaptation of their reporting.
Since August, residents in more than ten Russian regions have been complaining about gasoline shortages and surging prices, driven in large part by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries.
By mid-August, the Ukhta, Ryazan, Saratov, and Volgograd refineries had been damaged, along with all three in the Samara region. That month alone, Russia lost at least 17 percent of its refining capacity. In September, drones struck facilities in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Leningrad region, forcing one plant to shut down a unit that accounted for nearly 40 percent of its output.
The fuel shortage extends well beyond the border regions, affecting gas stations in the Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Penza regions as well as the Far East and occupied Crimea. In some areas of Crimea, there is no gasoline at all.
“In parts of Crimea, the situation is critical — many stations have closed completely. At the ones still open, there’s no gasoline, only diesel and natural gas,” a local activist said. “With the planting season beginning, this threatens to derail it. Local authorities have introduced a ration system: only government vehicles are allowed to refuel.”
In the Far East, the problem was compounded by scheduled maintenance at the Khabarovsk refinery. Elsewhere, the Energy Ministry has postponed regular maintenance to keep supplies up.
81 strikes How Ukrainian drone attacks disrupted Russian oil production and fuel prices in 202481 strikes How Ukrainian drone attacks disrupted Russian oil production and fuel prices in 2024
Independent gas stations have been hit hardest. Unlike the big chains, they buy fuel on the exchange — and some refineries haven’t been shipping 92- and 95-octane gasoline for weeks, forcing many smaller stations to close. “Some are scraping by from one tanker delivery to the next; others have taped up their pumps,” said Ekaterina Savkina of the Russian Fuel Union.
And when gasoline is available, it’s prohibitively expensive. “For small stations, it’s simply not worth buying,” said Pavel Bazhenov, head of the Independent Fuel Union. In early September, the exchange price of 95-octane hit a record 82,300 rubles ($984) per metric ton, while 92-octane rose above 70,600 ($844).
In Primorsky Krai, the cost of 95-octane gasoline on the exchange has jumped 30 percent since the start of summer, topping 100,000 rubles ($1,196) per metric ton. At the same time, sales volumes from the Komsomolsk and Angarsk refineries — the main suppliers to the region — have fallen by 25 to 57 percent.
In Nizhny Novgorod, residents say some gas stations are charging “91 to 95 rubles a liter [$4.12 to $4.30 a gallon].” In Pervomaysk, a town in the same region, prices spiked in just a week: 92-octane climbed from 54 to 80 rubles a liter (from $2.26 to $3.62 a gallon), and 95-octane from 59 to 88 ($2.67 to $3.98 a gallon). According to one resident, stations are rationing fuel, selling “only 10 liters [2.6 gallons] at a time.”
“My wife is nine months pregnant. There’s no maternity ward in our town, and the closest clinic is in Arzamas, about 80 kilometers [50 miles] away — but we don’t have enough fuel to get there,” the man told a local news outlet.
Large gas station chains, where supplies are more stable, are nowhere near Pervomaysk, residents say. Some people have begun driving across the border into the Chuvash Republic to save money.
Residents of Penza are also feeling the squeeze. Since the start of 2025, gasoline has gone up by two to three rubles per liter ($0.09 to $0.14 per gallon), while diesel has risen by one ($0.05 per gallon). A local resident named Sergey said that in the town of Belinsky, home to 8,000 people, “small stations have no fuel at all.”
Ordinarily, rising prices help restore balance to the market, explained Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. But the government’s policy of trying to cap gasoline prices, he said, is backfiring: producers have no incentive to increase supply or build up seasonal reserves.
August is the month when “all the chronic problems of Russia’s fuel market become especially visible,” said Vakulenko. Officials tend to explain the shortages as the result of “seasonal factors” — a surge in tourism and the demands of the harvest.
“In late summer, demand for motor fuel in Russia always rises: farms are in full swing, and city dwellers are driving more often to their dachas or taking long road trips,” Vakulenko explained. “At the same time, supply dips because of seasonal maintenance at refineries.”
This year, the situation has been made far worse by Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries. Plants in the Rostov region and the neighboring Krasnodar Krai have been struck most often.
“They’re close to the Ukrainian border, so drones can reach them easily. These plants have been targeted for more than two years now,” Vakulenko said. According to him, repairs after an attack can take anywhere from three days to three months, with an average downtime of about three weeks.
In 2024, he noted, damage from drones was usually repaired “within a matter of days.” The fuel market then remained relatively stable because the strikes, though frequent, were scattered: typically only one hit per refinery, and neighboring plants kept running without interruption.
This year, the tactics have changed. “Ukraine’s current strategy is to launch massive strikes against refineries, aiming to inflict maximum damage — even to knock them out of service altogether — rather than just denting output, as in 2024,” Vakulenko wrote. Ukraine has also been striking damaged facilities repeatedly, slowing down repairs.
The choice of targets also matters. Refineries in Krasnodar Krai and the Rostov region are geared toward exports. But when strikes hit plants from Ryazan down to Volgograd, it’s ordinary Russians who suffer.
Even so, Vakulenko believes Russia still has enough refining capacity to meet domestic demand. He described the situation as “difficult but manageable”: most damaged refineries are still producing, if at reduced levels. Some of the shortfall can be made up with fuel from the state reserve, and Belarus could help too — its refineries are capable of processing around 40 million metric tons of crude a year.
“We are still far from a deep, full-blown supply crisis that could disrupt the functioning of Russia’s economy or its military,” Vakulenko said. He predicts that the fuel crunch should start to ease by October.
Our only hope is you. Support Meduza before it’s too late.