"The special military operation is going to plan," runs the Kremlin's official formula, as it has for years. But the reality at Russia's petrol stations tells a different story. In Volgograd, footage shows enormous queues of vehicles and people literally camping beside the pumps - with tents and folding tables, waiting for days for fuel to arrive.

The cause is no mystery. Ukraine is systematically striking Russian refineries with drones, and to real effect. Since the start of 2026, Ukrainian forces have hit over 20 major Russian refineries - in Kirishi, Moscow, Ryazan and other cities - wiping out nearly a quarter of Russia's total oil-refining capacity. A country that exports oil to the whole world suddenly cannot fill its own tanks. The irony could hardly be greater.

The crisis spilled over from occupied Crimea into the southern Russian regions - Krasnodar, Rostov - where the pumps ran dry and citizens started panic-buying food and basic goods. The Kremlin responded with emergency measures: a total ban on diesel exports, restrictions on petrol and kerosene, the sale of lower-grade fuel labelled as better, and a limit of 20-30 litres per vehicle.

Why does this matter to us too? Because it shows that even the largest military power has vulnerable points, and that modern war is waged on the economy as well, not only at the front. When a state has to ration fuel to its citizens in doses as in wartime - because it is wartime - then the official phrase "everything is going to plan" sounds more and more like a mockery of its own people. And the people, as everywhere, see it - from the queue in front of the pump.