Russian officials have brought in Cossack guards to help manage tensions at petrol stations, as angry motorists confront widespread fuel shortages blamed on Ukrainian strikes against oil refineries.
The attacks, which came after Russia’s heavy bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, have pushed the world’s third-largest oil producer into importing gasoline from suppliers as distant as India.
Across Russia, long lines of vehicles are now forming outside filling stations as drivers absorb the consequences of Kyiv’s refinery campaign, intended to increase pressure on Moscow to seek peace after more than four years of war.
Petrol and diesel shortages are causing serious disruption nationwide, with enormous queues at service stations, rising prices and growing frustration among customers.
In the Black Sea resort city of Anapa, a popular holiday destination, authorities signalled concern over possible unrest by confirming that Cossacks had been deployed to help maintain order while motorists waited for fuel.
“They regulate traffic flow, prevent conflicts and attempts to fill petrol cans with fuel, and ensure that the queue is maintained in an orderly manner,” the city administration said.
Cossacks are a historic military and social group, widely associated with traditional uniforms and fur hats. Historically tasked with defending Russia’s frontier regions, they have also been used in recent years to support police operations.
As in other parts of Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Anapa has capped fuel purchases at 20 litres of gasoline per vehicle — an amount local resident Aleksandra Nesterenko told a regional TV station would last roughly a week.
The changes have helped trim waiting times to 30 to 40 minutes from up to four hours, Arsen Melkumyan, an administration official, said in the video.
Authorities in the popular Black Sea resort of Anapa said Cossacks were helping keep order as cars lined up for fuel
The drone strikes oil tanker Blue in the Black Sea off Crimean port Yalta
Dramatic footage shows a Sea Baby marine drone dodging intense incoming Russian fire
Anatoly Kasyanov, wearing a khaki uniform and a traditional fur hat, said in the video the Cossacks were ‘helping people navigate at the petrol station and preventing conflicts.’
Anapa is one of the most crowded resorts in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, where energy infrastructure is a frequent target of Kyiv’s air attacks.
Police in Krasnodar said they had detained two men after 1,000 litres of AI-95 gasoline was found in their car and that they were suspected of re-selling the fuel at a higher price.
The city of Novorossiysk, further south along the Black Sea coast, said last week it had suspended gasoline sales to private motorists, but state media said these later resumed.
Overnight, Ukraine hit two more major oil hubs with smoke gushing from depots in Tver as well as Mikhailovsk, in the Stavropol region, after new failures by Russian air defences.
The number of oil tankers hit by Ukrainian drones has now reached two dozen this week, paralysing supplies to annexed peninsula Crimea.
Five more were reported to have been hit and set ablaze overnight in the Azov Sea.
Two were struck in Taganrog Bay, admitted Putin’s top official in Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar.
As a result of the strikes, Russian citizens have been left increasingly agitated and ready to fight each other for petrol.
One Telegram video appears to show two pairs of men trading punches outside a petrol station as a shocked onlooker films the brawl, saying: ‘It’s so scary to live like this.’
Cossacks are a historic military and social community known for their distinctive uniforms and fur hats
By tradition, Cossacks protected Russia’s borderlands but have sometimes been used in recent years to back up the police.
One Telegram video appears to show two pairs of men trading punches outside a petrol station
Another clip shows a woman yanking a petrol pump away from a motorcyclist accused of jumping the queue. ‘I’ve been waiting an hour,’ he protests, prompting others nearby to shout back: ‘We’ve been here for four hours!’
The latest videos join a growing stream of footage from across Russia over recent weeks, showing ordinary people from Moscow to Crimea brawling over dwindling fuel supplies.
Other clips show motorists throwing punches at petrol pumps, while one video appears to capture a man pulling a gun on someone accused of queue-jumping.
In another incident, the confrontation escalated so dramatically that a woman was left with a bloodied nose after allegedly being punched by an impatient man.
Two lawmakers from the Communist Party, which is nominally in opposition to the ruling United Russia faction but is usually fully supportive of the Kremlin, voiced scathing attacks on the government’s handling of the issue ahead of a parliamentary election due in September.
One of them, Vyacheslav Markhayev, said people were queuing 36 hours to get just 15 litres of gasoline in the far eastern Zabaikalsky region.
He demanded to know why no lessons had been learned from earlier strikes on refineries, and said those responsible should be fired and prosecuted.
‘These aren’t just supply disruptions – this is a failure of state governance,’ Markhayev posted on social media.
A woman walks in a park as smoke billows in the background following a reported Ukrainian drone attack, in Moscow, Russia
Another clip shows a woman yanking a petrol pump away from a motorcyclist accused of jumping the queue
Another Communist deputy, Nina Ostanina, questioned a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak saying the market was adequately supplied with fuel. She asked why he would not ‘simply admit that nearly a third of our oil refineries are out of commission?’
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on June 28 that fuel supply problems had created shortages in Russian regions and said a task force was working on ensuring sufficient quantities were provided throughout the country.
Last week, Russia allowed refiners to produce gasoline and diesel with higher sulphur content for six months until the end of the year, a government decree showed, adding to other measures taken to ease the crisis.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed peace talks several times with Putin, but Russia has pressed on with the full-scale invasion it began in 2022. Both sides exchange attacks nearly daily.
