Another Russian Oil Refinery in Flames

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Last week I highlighted a video showing a line of thousands of cars waiting in a 10 kilometer long backup as people try to get out of Crimea. Those people would eventually cross the Kerch bridge and then continue east where they would pass through the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, home to a major oil refinery. Here's a map.

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And here's what that town looked like yesterday. Just imagine fleeing Crimea to get away from Putin's war and then 100 kilometers into Russia you see this.

That was yesterday but it's still burning today.

This isn't the first time Ukraine has hit this refinery but the damage this time looks pretty bad. 

Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south and killing at least two people, Russian authorities said Sunday...

The Slavyansk site is one of southern Russia’s major refineries, processing close to four million tons of crude per year, according to its operator’s website.

It is also a key source of petroleum products intended for export through Russia’s Black Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel.

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Not coincidentally, Putin admitted yesterday that the Ukrainians strikes were causing gasoline shortages.

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Sunday that Russia is facing a "certain shortage" of fuel following a wave of repeated Ukrainian strikes targeting oil refineries and domestic supply lines.

"As for strikes against critical infrastructure in general, and energy infrastructure in particular, of course, these attacks on our infrastructure facilities create problems," Putin said in a Kremlin-published interview. "That's obvious."

"Right now we're observing a certain shortage, but it's not critical," he added.

The government's primary focus, Putin said, was to improve Russian air defense system capabilities and to ensure that fuel supplies reach consumers, especially in annexed Crimea, where local authorities declared a state of emergency last week.

There are no fuel sales in Crimea to civilians right now. Authorities declared a state of emergency there and videos suggest people are being laid off because no one can work. So, Putin is right that the problem is air defense. Points for stating the obvious, I guess. The question is what you're going to be able to do about it in the next month or two? 

What Putin's probably not going to do is move his air defense batteries out of Moscow to protect fuel shipments to Crimea. So it seems like the short term answer is that he's not going to be able to do much of anything. And that's a problem because the 2.4 million people living there have nothing at the moment.

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The offensive has upended life in Crimea and undercut its image as a showcase of Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine after he poured money into the peninsula. Crimeans say basic services like kindergartens, trash collection and ATMs have stopped functioning. 

In Sevastopol, once the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet before Ukrainian drones forced its rebasing outside Crimea to Novorossiysk, resident Maksim Tikhomirov, 46 years old, said there has been no electricity for days. The state of emergency has forced stores to close at 8 p.m., but most have shut their doors altogether, as refrigerated and frozen goods spoil with no power.

“In Sevastopol specifically, the situation is very difficult,” he said. “Most stores are not operating at all. It’s impossible to withdraw cash. Public transportation is running very poorly and in limited numbers.”...

In Yalta, on the southeastern shore of Crimea, Viktoria Spivakova said she quit her job to stay home with her children because their kindergarten class was canceled. She can’t get to an emergency daycare because of the lack of fuel. 

One of the area's major industries is tourism and that's not happening under these conditions. Summer camps were canceled and bookings are down. As mentioned above, the only line in Crimea is the one of people trying to get out.

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