Ukrainian drones set another Russian oil refinery ablaze as Putin admits
fuel shortages
[June 29, 2026]
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia,
setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir
Putin acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that the country was
facing a “certain deficit” of fuel and vowed to strengthen protection of
oil facilities and boost fuel output.
Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian
military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to
cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion — now in its fifth year — and make
Russians feel the consequences.
“Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging
app on Sunday. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that
fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”
The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread
shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and
prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing.
According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on
the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the
negotiating table.
Putin says Ukrainian attacks aim to split Russian society
Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin described the Ukrainian
attacks on oil refineries as an attempt to “cause a split in Russian
society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of
our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for
launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary."
“We will not give them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on
our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no
effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact.”
He said for the first time that Ukraine has proposed a halt on deep
strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep
into Ukrainian territory are more powerful and devastating.
The Russian leader added that Kyiv also offered to limit the fighting to
the four regions that Russia annexed but never fully captured — Donetsk,
Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He rejected the proposal, arguing it
would allow Ukraine to relocate its forces that are fighting Russian
troops in other areas to let them focus on fending off the Russian
attacks in the four southeastern regions.
Ukrainian drones set major Russian refinery on fire
Meanwhile, debris from downed Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze at the
refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region,
east of occupied Crimea, according to regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev.
The falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and wounded another in
a nearby village, local authorities said.
The facility is one of southern Russia’s major refineries, processing
close to 4 million tons of crude per year, according to its operator’s
website. It is also a key source of petroleum products intended for
export through Russia’s Black Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and
marine fuel.
Zelenskyy also claimed that another Russian refinery, in the Yaroslavl
region around 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was
hit during the nighttime strikes.
There were no immediate reports from Russian authorities about the
strike on the Yaroslavl refinery. Local Gov. Mikhail Evraev reported on
Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and the region's capital,
Yaroslavl, were temporarily closed due to “an enemy attack by Ukrainian
drones.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, chairs a meeting on
domestic fuel supplies at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, June 28,
2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Fuel shortages in Russia as Putin says plans will be ‘adjusted’
For months, Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on energy
facilities deep inside Russia. Despite a raft of Western sanctions,
Moscow remains among the world's top exporters of oil and natural
gas.
More recently, Ukraine has attempted to choke off fuel deliveries to
Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in early
2014. Last weekend, Kremlin-installed officials in Crimea suspended
gasoline sales to civilians, after Kyiv's targeting of supply routes
triggered the worst energy crisis there since the annexation.
Speaking at a meeting with officials that focused on the fuel
situation, Putin admitted that the country was “going through a
difficult period,” but insisted that Moscow would “honor all its
social obligations.”
Shortly after, he told state TV that the country's arms industries
will quickly ramp up production of air defense systems to fend off
Ukrainian attacks.
Putin also said that Russia will import more fuel and speed up
repair works at oil facilities to end the “temporary deficit.”
“All damaged facilities are being restored quite quickly, and the
issues that arise are not critical,” he said.
Putin specifically pledged to quickly deal with fuel shortages in
Crimea, saying that fuel deliveries to the Black Sea peninsula by
land and sea will rise and voicing confidence that “this task will
be accomplished.”
As fuel shortages spread across Russia, the governor of the Irkutsk
region in Siberia, thousands of kilometers (miles) from the
Ukrainian border, Igor Kobzev announced that drivers will only be
allowed to buy no more than 50 liters (13 gallons) of fuel per
vehicle per day at state-run Rosneft gas stations in the province.
Other gas stations may set lower limits.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Moscow was
actively reviewing fuel export agreements to avoid compromising
domestic needs.
Drones, bombs and missiles target more regions
Also on Sunday, a Russian aerial bomb killed two people in
Zaporizhzhia — a city in southern Ukraine — and injured 16 others,
including two children, said regional administration head Ivan
Fedorov.
In Russia's border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian drone strikes
killed one person and injured another earlier on Sunday, according
to acting local Gov. Alexander Shuvayev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 213 Ukrainian
drones during the night, including over Russia, occupied Crimea and
the Black and Azov seas.
Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 142 long-range strike drones
and eight missiles overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Of those, 125 drones and seven missiles were struck down, the air
force said.
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