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[Wild video] Russian gas stations turn into brawling fist fights

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Russian President Vladimir Putin spent months downplaying Ukraine’s bold, deep-strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure.

This week, with wild videos on social media showing Russians throwing punches over empty gas pumps, he couldn’t downplay it anymore.

Over the weekend, Putin admitted for the first time that Ukrainian long-range drone strikes are causing real, visible damage to Russia’s fuel supply. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ground to a halt, and the fuel shortages are hitting everyday consumers deep in Russia.

“Unfortunately, there are still lines at gas stations, and the right grade of gasoline isn’t always available,” Putin admitted. “And, of course, we understand the challenges faced by agricultural producers and farms during the summer.” He insisted the Kremlin was managing the crisis, calling it a “temporary deficit” and pledging that “all damaged facilities are being restored quite quickly, and the issues that arise are not critical.”

Tanya, 29, reportedly told East2West News she waited 13 hours in Siberia for just half a tank of gasoline.

“He should stop this senseless conflict and let us live normally,” she said about Putin.

The shortages have spread across nearly all of Russia, including occupied Crimea, southern Russia, Siberia, and Moscow itself. Up to 22 regions are reportedly rationing gas sales. Farmers report difficulty securing fuel during peak summer agricultural season. Trucking routes to China have been disrupted as well.

The crisis traces directly to Ukraine’s effective drone campaign. Ukrainian forces struck the Moscow Oil Refinery in dramatic back-to-back attacks on June 16 and 18, sending black smoke over the capital just nine miles from the Kremlin.

Overnight Sunday into Monday, Ukraine hit two more refineries in Russia’s Krasnodar region and in Yaroslavl, a growing pattern of strikes deep inside Russian territory.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the latest strikes and made his intentions explicit: “We will continue our operations that weaken Russia’s ability to wage this war. Every long-range sanction reduces the resources fueling Russia’s war machine and brings us one step closer to peace.”

Zelenskyy has reportedly signed off on the operation designed to pressure the Kremlin toward ending the invasion.

Russian opposition figure Maxim Katz, a former Moscow municipal deputy, told Fox News the damage is hitting Putin where he can’t easily fix it.

“They are bombing the refineries very effectively,” Katz said. “Putin doesn’t have a way to defend them. Right now, it looks like there is no way to defend them, and that is a major pressure point on Putin.” Katz said the broader Russian economy is increasingly structured entirely around the war effort. “The whole economy is now built on war. War does not produce anything. Nothing comes back from it. So what remains is a big hole.”

About the Author

Stephen is a U.S. Army veteran with over a decade of combined experience in political commentary, economics, and news.