EA-Ukraine VideoCast: How Serious is Russia’s Fuel Situation?
Monday’s Coverage: 22+ Civilians Killed and 116+ Injured by Russian Strikes on Kyiv
UPDATE 0802 GMT:
A day after Ukraine struck Russia’s largest oil refinery for the first time, “kilometer-long queues” have formed at gas stations in the Omsk region.
The rush began on Monday evening in Omsk city and throughout the region. Authorities are urging people not to panic, assuring them that there is sufficient fuel./p>
However, Omsk residents are posting today that there is no gasoline at some stations. One outlet says the Topline chain has stopped selling to individuals, with its 53 stations are only dispensing fuel to those with corporate fuel cards.
Omsk is more than 2,500 km (1,553 miles) from the Ukraine border.
UPDATE 0752 GMT:
Ukraine’s drones set large fires in the Belgorod region in western Russia overnight, including at a gas transport infrastructure facility and the local airport.
Belgorod Governor Alexander Shuvaev acknowledged hits on civil infrastructure, causing a fire at one site. Power and water supply disruptions were reported in parts of the region.
Residents reported numerous explosions. The Belgorod linear production facility of the main gas pipelines was ablaze.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said more than 430 drones flew toward the region. He did not say how many reached their targets, but posted, “Specialists from emergency services are working at the sites where debris fell.”
Airports throughout Russia restricted flights.
UPDATE 0748 GMT:
Air defenses downed 108 of 123 drones fired by Russia overnight. Twelve UAVs hit 10 locations.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Vladimir Putin “fears for his life” amid Ukrainian counter-attacks against Russia’s 52 1/2-month full-scale invasion.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Zelensky said:
When our deep strikes were not reaching Moscow and St. Petersburg, Putin did not think much about it. He understood that the war was far from the Kremlin. Of course, once he feels what is happening in Moscow, he will begin to understand what is happening in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions. He’ll begin to grasp the reality of the situation.
When not one hundred drones but a thousand start reaching Moscow, and when he feels it and sees it, he will be advised to move somewhere beyond the Urals. That will be a moment that opens a new chapter on the path toward ending the war. The farther Putin is from Moscow, the closer the end of the war and peace will be.
He fears for his life.
The President added, “Where do the Russian elites live? Moscow and St. Petersburg – the two major cities. Those places will be reached, because that is where they make the decisions to kill us.”
Zelensky spoke of Ukraine’s deep and mid-range strikes threatening to cut off Russian-occupied Crimea: “We showed what it means to operationally control the skies at a specific point, at a specific time.”
Power has been affected across much of the peninsula, and gasoline sales have been banned except to the military and essential services. Most bridges from Russia through occupied southern Ukraine to Crimea have been heavily damaged.
The President summarized:
This war is changing. Today, peace and victory are on the side of those who are smarter. It is very difficult for us, but our fighters have stopped the war on the battlefield – the line of contact – with their lives. The war continues, but the front is no longer moving. When the front line is barely moving and the enemy cannot advance by sea, that leaves the skies.
Ukraine’s “major problem” remains anti-ballistic missile defense against Russia’s attacks on civilian areas, he noted.
On Monday, at least 26 civilians were murdered and 119 injured in and near Kyiv as Russia fired 68 missiles and 351 drones.
Zelensky told the Financial Times:
If our partners do not abandon Ukraine when it comes to funding our resilience, if our guys soldier on and keep holding the battlefield, and if every kilometer costs the Russians tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of troops, then we will fight for the skies. Because the skies will be the crucial factor in this war. Whoever is smarter is stronger, and that’s who will win.
