A big part of modern warfare has been about striking at or jeopardizing energy infrastructure. Countries strike oil refineries, blockade energy shipments, and try to leverage energy scarcity and rising gas prices to achieve their war aims.
But now, Russia appears to have embraced another form of attack: Striking Ukrainian civilians as they fill up at gas stations.
Bohdan, a drone pilot from the Unmanned Systems Battalion of Ukraine’s 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade, pilots an FPV drone in Donetsk Oblast during active battle operations. Photo: David Kirichenko
According to CNN, more than 200 Ukrainian fuel stations were hit by Russia, often by drones, in the months of June and July, an average of about three a day.
The stations that have been struck are usually on or near the front lines, although some have been struck in Kyiv and gone further beyond.
CNN has obtained at least 30 videos of strikes on gas stations in Ukraine.
In one case, a gas station was on fire; a policeman came to help when a second drone arrived and struck the station again. Russia has taken to posting footage of the attacks to Telegram.
Regina Kharchenko, acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, told CNN that the city was hit with more than 50 gas station strikes in a 24-day period in July.
The Kyiv Independent also wrote, in the last week, about the phenomenon of Russia attacking Ukraine’s gas stations, including telling the story of the July 3 strike on a station in Pyriatyn in Poltava Oblast by a Geran attack drone, which injured six people.
Those drones are Russia’s version of Iran’s Shahed drones.
A MIM-104 Patriot Surface-to-Air Missile System assigned to the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade fires as part of a bi-lateral live-fire exercise with military members from the Royal Netherlands Ground-based Air Defense Command at McGregor Range, N.M., May 11, 2024. The Patriot Missile System is a highly mobile air defense guided missile system designed to engage and intercept any aerial threats whether it be aircraft or tactical ballistic missiles under any weather conditions and in natural or induced environments. The command showcased its capabilities firing interceptors at simulated drone targets during the training event working with Dutch Allies.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. David Rincon)
“Of course we’re worried (about these strikes),” a gas station employee named Valerii told the Kyiv Independent.
A separate report in the Independent stated that a Russian attack in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed three people, including a rescue worker and his 8-year-old son.
Why Gas Stations Matter in Ukraine
In Ukraine, CNN said, fuel stations are especially important, as places where “evacuees, soldiers, haulage drivers, can all pause, regroup and recuperate.”
Yaroslav Starovoitenko, president of the Ukrainian Oil and Gas Association, described the stations as “key points of refuge as people fled the war,” a network which Russia has sought to disrupt.
New Voice of Ukraine reported Monday that Russia had destroyed 37 gas stations belonging to the Naftogaz Group so far in 2026, although some had been rebuilt and returned to service.
The Financial Times reported separately that the attacks are seen as Russia’s response to the attacks on its own energy infrastructure, which have caused pain for the Russian public, including what CNN has described as an ongoing energy crisis affecting every region in Russia.
“Their mindset is: if we’re short of petrol, why should life continue as normal for you?” Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration, told the Financial Times.
An op-ed in The Hill in July by Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Joseph Webster had proposed that the key to ending both the wars in Ukraine and Iran was to “starve Russia’s gas pumps,” through additional sanctions on Russian oil.
That story also reported on “fistfights” at Russian gas stations, resulting from existing shortages there, and that due to the gas issue, Russian public opinion has been souring on the war.
“For the first time, gasoline outages are forcing many ordinary Russians to confront the profound failure of Putin’s war,” Webster writes.
Escalation to Come?
CNN reported that the gas station attacks could be a harbinger of an escalation in the war on the part of the Russian side, with Russian President Vladimir Putin possibly responding to Ukraine’s recent wave of drone attacks with a new fall/winter offensive.
In June, the New York Post had reported that Putin was planning a “Hail Mary” winter offensive against Ukraine, which the Post characterized as Putin acting out of desperation as Russia’s economy spirals, following a “lackluster” spring offensive that had Russia losing more territory than it gained for the first time since 2023.
“Putin will wait for the winter again to resume the large-scale strikes and create a humanitarian crisis to get concessions in the Donbas issue,” Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow with the Center for International and Strategic Studies think tank’s Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, told the Post in June.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
