Ukraine's drones hit Russia's state fuel reserve 700 km in, and Crimea feels the squeeze

Ukrainian drones struck a state fuel reserve more than 700 km inside Russia on June 14, and Russian forces are now disguising fuel trucks as milk tankers to keep occupied Crimea supplied.

Ukrainian long-range drones struck the Temp fuel depot at Rybinsk in Yaroslavl Oblast overnight on June 14, more than 700 kilometers from the border, the Kyiv Post reported, in a strike the Security Service of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky both confirmed.

The Temp depot belongs to Rosrezerv, Russia's Federal Agency for State Reserves, and holds gasoline, diesel, and lubricants set aside for wartime and military use, United24 Media reported. The same night, drones set fires at the Azot chemical plant in Tula Oblast, a fertilizer and explosives-precursor supplier. Zelensky called the operations "long-range sanctions" in a post to Telegram. A separate Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded nine at a high-rise in Russia's Oryol region, Governor Andrei Klychkov said, according to the Associated Press.

With the Kerch Strait Bridge closed to fuel tankers and ferry crossings damaged, the Russian military is disguising fuel trucks as civilian vehicles, including milk tankers, to move supply through the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia land corridor into Crimea, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told a national telethon, the Kyiv Post reported. Gasoline shortages have spread across Russian regions, with Moscow permitting lower-grade fuel, the paper said in a separate report.

Russian petroleum depots, refineries, and logistics infrastructure remain legitimate targets, the SBU said. Pletenchuk framed the campaign against Crimea as "a game over a long distance," and said the strain on the peninsula would show over time rather than at once.