Ukraine has sharply escalated its drone offensive against Russian fuel supply lines, striking at least 36 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea over four days and forcing the Kremlin to announce emergency subsidies for Crimea and a temporary ban on diesel exports. The attacks, which Ukrainian military officials describe as a “logistics lockdown” of the occupied peninsula, have set tankers ablaze, damaged key refineries, and left the city of Sevastopol receiving only a third of its daily fuel needs. In a televised meeting, President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to release subsidies “as quickly as possible” so that citizens “do not feel an excessive burden,” while the governor of Sevastopol acknowledged that a “colossal effort” involving the armed forces was under way to alleviate shortages.

Ukrainian commanders frame the maritime strikes as a deliberate extension of a campaign that has already degraded road and rail links to Crimea. The head of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi, said drones had hit 35 tankers, cargo ships and special vessels in the Sea of Azov, most of them part of what Kyiv calls Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions. President Volodymyr Zelensky characterised the operations as “long-range sanctions” designed to transfer the costs of the war onto Russian territory. According to Ukrainian defence ministry statements, the aim is to reduce the “military-economic potential of the aggressor state” by severing fuel supplies to Russian forces and isolating Crimea, which houses the Black Sea Fleet and serves as a critical logistics hub.

Inside Russia, the cumulative effect of months of strikes on refineries has produced what the Financial Times describes as the worst fuel crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Reuters reports that the Saratov and Omsk refineries—the latter the largest in the country—have suspended operations after drone damage to primary processing units, contributing to shortages that have triggered queues, price spikes and rationing across numerous regions. The diesel export prohibition, in force until at least the end of July, is already reverberating globally: Brazil, which became the third-largest importer of Russian diesel after EU sanctions redirected Moscow’s flows, saw its imports of the fuel drop by 65 per cent from May to June, according to trade data cited by Brazilian industry bodies. Analysts in London warn that the ban arrives at a precarious moment, with global diesel stocks already depleted by disruptions linked to the conflict in Iran.

Kremlin sources told Reuters that Putin has rebuffed advisers who proposed a ceasefire along current front lines and is instead likely to escalate the war, viewing Ukraine’s recent successes as a provocation that demands a forceful response. The Russian defence ministry claimed to have shot down 73 drones in a single night, while launching its own barrage of 94 drones and two ballistic missiles at Ukrainian targets. In Washington, President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States would grant Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot air-defence systems, though experts caution that local production could take at least a year. The diesel export ban is expected to remain in place through July, and Ukrainian officials have signalled that strikes on maritime logistics will continue, leaving the fuel supply to Crimea and the wider region under sustained pressure.