Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged for the first time that Russia is facing fuel shortages following a wave of Ukrainian attacks deep inside the country. Putin detailed the extent to which Ukraine's deep-strike successes have hampered fuel production, although he downplayed the overall impact of the operations.
Ukraine has intensified its strikes on energy and logistics infrastructure, including recent attacks on a pair of oil refineries far behind the front lines. A fresh overnight assault on the major Sloviansk refinery in southern Russia set the facility on fire and killed one person.
The fuel crisis continues to deepen, and anger from Russians searching for gas at stations has begun to emerge on social media. There are warnings that companies may be forced to sell lower quality gasoline and diesel. Putin stated that the main task now is to increase Russian anti-aircraft defense capacity to ensure stable fuel supplies.