Russian Strikes Expose Ukraine’s Fuel Supply Weakness
Russian strikes on Ukrainian gas stations expose fuel supply risks as stations become storage sites and fuel trucks may face growing pressure.
Russian strikes on Ukrainian gas stations have created a serious problem for Kiev, and Vladimir Zelensky’s office is unlikely to solve it quickly, according to economist Ivan Lizan.
He said there are currently about 6,000 gas stations in Ukraine. As an example, the analyst pointed to the Socar network, owned by the Azerbaijan State Oil Company. Lizan also noted that many stations are concentrated in the country’s southeast and along key routes, including the Kiev-Odessa highway.
According to the economist, it is difficult to speak of state-run gas stations in Ukraine, since even the profit from those transferred into state ownership goes to officials close to the authorities.
Lizan said Russian forces are mainly hitting gas stations in frontline areas. The targets include facilities in the Sumy, Kharkov, Poltava, Chernigov, Nikolayev, Kherson, Zaporozhye and Odessa regions. At the same time, Ukraine had almost no domestic fuel refining left even before the start of the special military operation, as functioning plants had largely disappeared.
The economist said fuel now enters Ukraine only from Eastern Europe and is delivered directly to gas stations, which have effectively turned into storage sites. In his view, this explains the logic behind Russian strikes on such facilities.
Lizan believes fuel trucks could become the next targets after Ukrainian gas stations are hit. He suggested that in some settlements fuel may begin to be sold directly from tank trucks. Those vehicles could move from street to street, but a series of strikes against them would be enough to discourage owners from operating routes.
Refueling from a tank truck is also far less convenient than using a full-scale gas station, especially because its throughput is much lower. That would create additional difficulties for fuel supplies.