Russian-installed authorities in Crimea suspended all civilian fuel sales on Sunday after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack struck the Kerch peninsula and nearby Russian territory, killing at least five people and igniting oil infrastructure on both sides of the strategic Kerch Strait. The assault, which Moscow said involved 239 incoming drones, hit a fuel depot in the port of Kerch and an oil transshipment terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar region, where a passenger ferry was also struck. Power outages and the temporary halt of ferry and bridge traffic compounded the disruption.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, announced that petrol stations would supply only government agencies charged with maintaining essential services and security, citing the need to preserve fuel. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his forces had targeted “military logistics, the oil industry and air defence” in occupied Crimea and southern Russia, describing the operation as a “just response to Russia’s brutal attacks” and part of a long-range sanctions campaign designed to degrade Moscow’s war-fighting capacity. Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted the majority of the drones and accused Kyiv of endangering civilians.

The attack is the latest in a sustained Ukrainian campaign to sever Russian supply lines, particularly energy infrastructure, in occupied territory and inside Russia itself. Analysts in Kyiv note that repeated strikes on fuel depots, refineries and transport hubs have already triggered the worst fuel crisis in Crimea since Russia’s 2014 annexation, with rationing and panic buying reported across the peninsula. Motorists have queued for hours and speculators have resold fuel at double official prices, while local authorities launched a hotline for stranded tourists. The destruction of tanker trucks along overland routes, according to military experts, has rendered road corridors from Russia increasingly perilous, threatening the summer tourist season and complicating logistical support for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

In parallel, Russian forces launched their own barrage across eastern and southern Ukraine overnight, killing at least 11 people in Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Kherson regions and wounding dozens, according to Ukrainian officials — a cycle of escalation that has seen peace negotiations remain frozen. Viewed from European capitals, the tit-for-tat long-range strikes and the mounting economic pressure on occupied Crimea have, according to a Reuters account of the recent G7 summit, led European leaders to argue that battlefield developments now favour Kyiv and to urge Washington not to accept ceasefire terms disproportionately advantageous to Moscow. As both sides dig in, Ukraine’s military command signalled that further strikes against Russian logistics are planned, while the Kremlin pledged to secure fuel supplies for Crimea and to continue its own operations.