Unease deepens in Russia as Ukraine steps up long-range strikes [View all]

Experts said Vladimir Putin was unlikely to change course despite worsening fuel shortages and a sharp decline in the stock market.

The Kremlin is scrambling to respond to an intensifying campaign of Ukrainian drone attacks reaching ever deeper into Russia, hitting key arms production facilities, destroying an ever-greater share of oil-refining capacity, and causing fuel shortages across the country.

This week alone, swarms of Ukrainian drones hit oil facilities across Russia as well as the VZPP-S semiconductor devices plant, a major producer of components for Russian ballistic missiles in Voronezh, the Dubna Satellite Communications Center near Moscow, and a chemical plant that is key for producing Russian ammunition in Tula.

In Russia-occupied Crimea, rolling power outages were triggered across the peninsula by Ukrainian strikes, and fuel sales have been suspended, causing Russian-installed authorities there to declare a state of emergency Friday.

President Vladimir Putin’s government held an emergency meeting earlier this week on the escalating fuel crisis after gasoline production plummeted 25 percent across Russia during the week of June 15-21 and pushed dozens of regions to impose rations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/06/27/unease-deepens-russia-ukraine-steps-up-long-range-strikes/