Russia’s cash panic is spreading as Putin uses the St. Petersburg Economic Forum to argue that Moscow can outlast Ukraine. The Kremlin wants the summit to reassure elites, officials, and foreign guests that sanctions, drone strikes, and war costs have not broken the system, even as refineries burn, fuel supplies tighten, naval facilities sit exposed, factories slow down, and cash leaves the banks.

Ukraine is hitting the machinery that keeps Russia’s invasion moving. A quarter of Russian refining capacity has reportedly been taken offline, refinery utilization has fallen 14%, and anxious citizens have pulled more than $20 billion in cash from banks as diesel and gasoline pressure reaches trucks, trains, factories, soldiers, and the civilian economy Moscow still has to keep running.

St. Petersburg was meant to show a Russia with time on its side. Instead, the backdrop is refinery damage, fuel strain, cash withdrawals, exposed naval sites, and a rear area Ukraine is making more expensive to defend. Every extra month now burns more of the infrastructure Russia needs to keep the invasion alive.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Putin Says Russia Is Winning
01:20 Ukraine Strikes Deep Inside Russia
03:02 Russia's Fuel And Economic Problems
04:48 Why Ukraine's Strategy Is Working
06:38 Putin Refuses Peace Talks
08:15 The Business Of War In Moscow
09:42 St. Petersburg Under Attack
11:02 Russia's Rear Areas Are Exposed
12:15 Putin's Time Is Running Out