Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries had led to the imposition of restrictions on fuel sales in more than half of Russia's administrative regions by last week, according to Radio Free Europe, with further attacks on facilities taking place still.
Russian publication Meduza, operating in exile, published a list on Monday showing that 12 out of 14 major Russian oil refineries have now been struck by Ukraine, noting that the largest, located in Omsk, thousands of miles from Ukraine, is untouched.
Russia is now in talks with other nations to secure imports of gasoline, the Moscow Times reported, citing presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov talking to reporters on Tuesday.
Russian financial newspaper Kommersant on Tuesday also reported that the government is considering lowering fuel quality standards until next year to boost gasoline and diesel supply.
Online images of queues at filling stations and cars abandoned in the road after running out of fuel underscore Ukraine's objective of bringing home to ordinary Russians the impact of the government's war on its neighbor as well as depriving the state of funds and its military of fuel, to slow its advance.
In terms of lost refining capacity, media reports offer estimates ranging from a quarter to one half of the total though details on how much damage has been inflicted and the repair timelines are scant.
Ukraine's latest strikes include a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Slavyansk, Krasnodar, in the southwestern Caucasus region, while in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, smoke was observed rising from the city's refinery, with damage being assessed, according to media reports.
Ukrainian news website RBC said that the attack on the Slovyansk refinery, a few hundred kilometers from the front line in the Russia-Ukraine war, hit both crude oil and fuel storage as well as the facility's main oil processing unit.
These attacks come on top of repeated strikes on Gazprom's Kapotnya refinery, which media reports say supplies about one-third of the fuel to Russian capital Moscow, home to almost 10% of the country's population.
Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reported that it will take at least six months to carry out the necessary repairs to that facility, keeping it offline for the remainder of 2026.
The most acute shortages are now in Russia-annexed Crimea after fuel sales to civilians were banned to preserve limited available supplies for essential services.
The Associated Press, in an article republished by Fortune, reported on Sunday that civilian fuel sales have been restricted in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, citing its governor Igor Kobzev.
Russia's gasoline output dropped in mid-June to about 90,000 metric tons or 765,000 barrels per day, a 25% decline when compared with daily average production levels in June last year, a Reuters report said.
The country has already banned exports of jet fuel and gasoline and has been considering halting sales of diesel to other countries.
There have been regional knock-on effects, including a reduction in output from southern neighbor Kazakhstan's Karachaganak oil and gas field by about one quarter, after Russia's Orenburg gas processing plant in the area was struck by Ukraine.
has been unable to reach the country's energy ministry for comment, while the Kremlin's press office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.