Crimea, the peninsula Russia took with so much pride in 2014, is these days facing a far more mundane problem than geopolitics - a fuel shortage. Pumps are empty or with limited fills, prices have jumped, and discontent among the local population is growing. The situation became so sensitive that Vladimir Putin himself demanded, at a government session, an urgent resolution of the crisis.

Moscow's response is telling. Russia introduced a full ban on diesel exports to redirect fuel toward the domestic market, and announced it would begin to import fuel from other countries in July. A country that boasts of enormous oil reserves - forced to import fuel for its own territory. The official version speaks of seasonal summer demand, agricultural work and logistical pressures.

What the official version carefully sidesteps is the reason everyone whispers: Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, which for months have systematically hit processing capacity. When you say "logistical pressures" instead of "they're hitting our refineries," it sounds much calmer in a report to the president. But an empty pump doesn't understand diplomatic phrasing.

For the ordinary residents of Crimea, whose lives depend on transport, tourism and farming, this is a direct blow right in the season when they need fuel most. And there's the irony that wraps the whole story: the peninsula meant to be a trophy of Russian power today can't secure even enough diesel for itself. War, as usual, first reaches the fuel tank of the ordinary person - no matter which side of the front they're on.