Ukraine chokes fuel to Crimea, Russian consumers, targeting military supply

Ukraine appeared to person begun large-scale strikes against Russian shadiness tankers attempting to proviso occupied Crimea with fuel, arsenic an vigor situation connected the peninsula worsens.

At the aforesaid time, Ukraine has continued to origin substance shortages successful Russia itself, striking refineries heavy wrong the country, including, for the archetypal time, the Omsk refinery successful Siberia, Russia’s largest, 2,500km (1,553 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

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Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces commandant Robert Brovdi said his forces had struck 19 Russian tankers, a cargo vessel and a ferry betwixt July 6 and 8, including 9 tankers connected the nighttime of July 7.

Residents basal adjacent an flat gathering deed by a Russian drone onslaught successful Kyiv, Ukraine, July 8, 2026 [ [Reuters]

Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk told paper Suspilne that Russia had rerouted substance supplies to Crimea aft Ukraine deprived it of overland routes.

“They had fewer options left. It’s either a onshore corridor oregon a oversea connection,” Pletenchuk said. “As acold arsenic we know, they don’t usage the Kerch Bridge for specified proscription successful the indispensable volumes,” helium said, referring to the span connecting Crimea to Russia.

Ukraine detonated a motortruck connected the span successful 2022, mounting alight a substance bid that had been travelling alongside it and demonstrating the hazard of utilizing the span for ample volumes of fuel.

Ukraine pivoted to attacking Crimea successful the past fewer weeks aft disabling the lipid offloading terminal astatine Novorossiysk, connected the other Russian coast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times.

“We were slowing down the militarisation of our peninsula occupied by Russia,” helium said. “We chopped disconnected the logistics and took power of the substance and vigor complex. We showed what it means to operationally power the entity astatine a circumstantial point, astatine a circumstantial time.”

The Ukrainian Presidential Office successful Crimea said these strikes had caused “a absorption situation connected the peninsula”.

In Sevastopol, substance has stopped being sold to civilians, and much than a twelve Crimean regions are suffering from energy blackouts.

Ukraine continued strikes connected the peninsula successful the past week, destroying 7 Sukhoi craft and 2 sheds containing Shahed aerial drones astatine the Saky airfield connected July 3, the Kerch lipid transhipment terminal connected July 6 and 3 hangars astatine the Guardsman airfield connected the aforesaid day.

Ukraine besides kept up unit connected Russia, launching what politician Sergei Sobyanin said was its largest onslaught connected Moscow successful 2 years.

More than 400 Ukrainian drones were downed portion heading for the metropolis connected July 7, which was the archetypal time of a NATO acme successful Ankara.

“When our drones weren’t flying to Moscow and St Petersburg, [Russian president Vladimir]  Putin didn’t deliberation overmuch astir it. He understood that the warfare was acold from the Kremlin,” Zelenskyy told the Financial Times.

“When not a 100 drones, but a 1000 would commencement flying to Moscow, and erstwhile helium would consciousness and spot this, helium would beryllium advised to determination determination beyond the Urals. This would beryllium a infinitesimal similar a caller leafage connected the way to ending the war.

A rescuer hands a feline named Boniya, recovered nether the rubble of an flat gathering damaged by a Russian rocket onslaught a time earlier, to Anastasia Sorokina, a person of the feline proprietor successful Kyiv, Ukraine, July 7, 2026 [Sergiy Karazy/Reuters]

Ukraine struck respective vigor targets during the week, furthering its duplicate goals of starving Russia of petrol and export gross from oil.

The SBU said it struck and acceptable alight the St Petersburg lipid terminal connected July 4, which it described arsenic “one of the largest lipid merchandise transshipment terminals successful the Baltic region”. Zelenskyy posted video purporting to amusement the terminal successful flames.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had struck the Slavneft Yanos refinery successful Yaroslavl, 700km (430 miles) from Ukraine, the Ust-Luga refinery connected the Baltic Sea, and the Omsk Refinery. Russia’s defence ministry said it had changeable down 613 of 625 Ukrainian drones detected successful the airspace overnight.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia had mislaid 42.7 percent of its refining capableness implicit the past year, and suffered $13.5bn of harm to lipid infrastructure.

These strikes person cumulatively caused petrol and diesel shortages successful the Russian market, with consumers successful municipality hubs lining up to capable their cars.

During the week, Ukraine besides struck the Kremny EL Group successful Bryansk, which it said manufactured microchips, semiconductors and different electronics for the equipped forces.

Rescuers moving astatine a tract of a Russian rocket and drone onslaught connected the erstwhile day, during which a residential gathering was heavy damaged, amid Russia’s onslaught connected Ukraine, are seen done breached glass, successful Kyiv, Ukraine, July 7, 2026 [Alina Smutko/Reuters]

Zelenskyy said the aerial warfare would beryllium “decisive”, due to the fact that successful 2026 Ukraine’s crushed troops had efficaciously stopped Russia’s dilatory beforehand of the past 2 years.

Independent assessments person suggested that Russia gained a full of 97 quadrate kilometres (37 quadrate miles) successful the archetypal six months of the year.

“The warfare is ongoing, but the beforehand enactment is nary longer moving. When the beforehand enactment is astir not moving, and the force cannot invade by sea, the entity remains,” Zelenskyy said.

US President Donald Trump handed Zelenskyy a large triumph astatine the NATO acme successful Ankara connected Wednesday, saying helium would licence Ukraine to nutrient interceptor missiles for anti-air systems.

Zelenskyy has been campaigning for a licence to build Patriot interceptors, which helium believes Ukraine tin bash faster and much cheaply than the US oregon European manufacturers.

But Zelenskyy said Patriots yet are not the reply for European aerial defence, announcing his volition to make FREYA, a Ukrainian-designed anti-ballistic strategy similar Patriot “but with a higher accumulation capableness and astatine a little cost”.

Is Russia losing?

Zelenskyy’s commander-in-chief warned against dismissing Russia excessively easily.

“It’s inactive excessively aboriginal to speech astir a qualitative turning constituent successful the war,” Oleksandr Syrskii wrote connected his Telegram messaging channel. “The aggressor is showing signs of exhaustion, but retains important violative potential,” adding that Russia “plans to widen the beforehand line, which already exceeds 1,250 kilometres (777 miles).”

Putin relaunched the communicative that Moscow volition overrun the eastbound Ukrainian portion of Donetsk, four-fifths of which Russia already controls.

In a televised gathering with his apical generals connected July 3, Putin was told that Russia has seized 3,000sq km (1,160sq miles) of Ukraine truthful acold this year, and “liberated” 133 settlements. His commandant successful chief, Valery Gerasimov, besides claimed to power the cities of Kupiansk successful Kharkiv, and Kostiantynivka successful Donetsk.

The Institute for the Study of War, which uses geolocated footage to measure advances, estimated that Russian forces person a beingness successful 2.4 percent of Kupiansk and 37 percent of Kostiantynivka – and astir of that successful the signifier of infiltrations, not steadfast control.

The Ukrainian subject has estimated the fig of Russian servicemen successful Kostiantynivka astatine betwixt 100 and 250.

Putin was told that Russian forces seized 636sq km (245sq miles) of Ukraine successful June alone. The ISW estimates the existent fig astatine 30sq km (11sq miles).

Kostiantynivka is politically important to the Kremlin due to the fact that it is the archetypal of 4 heavy fortified cities, including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, which Moscow indispensable prehend to instrumentality power of Donetsk – which Putin considers a puppet authorities and has repeatedly prioritised.

“The seizure of Kostyantynovka by the troops of the South battlegroup opens a nonstop roadworthy for further beforehand to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, different fortified areas successful the Donbas, and is, of course, the cardinal to liberating the full territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Putin said.

The Donbas includes Donetsk and Luhansk, which Putin mistakenly claimed to person taken successful its entirety.

“I recognize that we should nary longer talk of the Slovyansk-Kramatorsk-Kostyantynovka line, but simply of the Slovyansk-Kramatorsk line,” Putin told the gathering.