“How am I supposed to get to the doctor? Walk?” Frustration is growing in occupied Crimea, according to an intercepted phone call released by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), in which a local resident complained about fuel shortages and collapsing transportation services as Russia continues prioritizing military needs over civilian demand. In the recording, a woman from the northern Crimean city of Armyansk described growing difficulties obtaining fuel and using public transportation.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “There is no gasoline,” she said in Russian. “Trains are running poorly. It takes eight hours to get from Armyansk to Simferopol by train. Minibuses are not running at all. I don’t even know how to get to an eye doctor anymore. I might have to walk.” The woman said the problems began around two weeks ago and were likely to worsen during the summer.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 21, 2026
According to HUR, the shortages are a consequence of Ukraine’s ongoing campaign against Russian oil refineries and fuel infrastructure, which Kyiv has described as “long-range sanctions.”“In a number of regions of the aggressor state and in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, shortages have emerged at gas stations,” HUR said in a statement.The intelligence agency claimed Russia is increasingly diverting fuel supplies to sustain occupation forces and military operations, leaving civilians with reduced access to basic services.HUR said responsibility for conditions in occupied Crimea rests entirely with Russia as the occupying power and argued that living conditions would improve only after the peninsula is returned to Ukrainian control.
