Crimea just ran out of gas. Not metaphorically.
On June 21, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of occupied Crimea, announced a complete suspension of fuel sales to private individuals and businesses across the peninsula. Only state agencies handling essential services can now purchase fuel. For everyone else, the pumps are off.
How Ukraine turned a peninsula into an island
The crisis didn’t arrive overnight. Early June saw fuel rationing measures that limited transaction sizes and restricted cash sales. Long queues formed at gas stations across the peninsula. Rolling power blackouts hit major population centers including Sevastopol and Kerch.
Ukrainian drone strikes targeted the TES-Terminal-1 oil hub in Kerch on June 21, sparking fires and forcing power shutdowns. The facility is a critical node in Crimea’s fuel supply chain, and its disruption accelerated an already dire situation into a full-blown emergency.
