By Nina Bachkatov and Romain Constantin
For the past two weeks, Russia—a country whose wealth has long been built on oil—has been facing an unexpected and politically embarrassing crisis: a severe fuel shortage. The crisis is spreading, with more than 31 regions, including Moscow and St Petersburg, imposing restrictions on fuel sales. In Crimea, relentless Ukrainian strikes on the peninsula’s supply routes have forced the authorities to limit petrol sales to essential users. As in the other occupied territories, residents are bearing the consequences of damaged infrastructure. But Crimea is both strategically vulnerable and highly symbolic. On 26 June, after two weeks of sustained attacks, the regional governor declared a state of emergency, allowing the authorities to respond more rapidly to the situation.
Those attacks highlight the Kremlin’s growing difficulty in protecting critical infrastructure across such a vast territory. More importantly, they show that Ukraine is no longer trying simply to defeat Russian forces on the battlefield. It is trying to reshape Russia’s political and economic calculations by combining drone warfare, economic disruption and technological innovation, while using the same technologies to compensate for Ukraine’s own demographic constraints.
Continue reading “Ukraine’s new front is Russia’s home front”