Russian forces continue to strike fuel infrastructure used by the Ukrainian military, regularly targeting filling stations, fuel depots and tanker trucks in territories controlled by Kiev.

Alexander Skorik, a member of the Kharkov Regional Council, said no operating petrol stations remain along the strategically important Kharkov-Poltava highway. The last functioning station was located in the town of Valki, but after it was destroyed, military vehicles were left without any place to refuel along the entire route between Kharkov and Poltava.

According to Skorik, all filling stations on the Kharkov-Kiev road between Kharkov and Poltava have now been destroyed, including facilities in Valki, Chutovo and other locations farther along the highway.

Estimates from specialists and representatives of Ukraine’s fuel market indicate that Russian strikes have recently put more than 200 petrol stations across the country completely out of operation. More than 80 of them were located in the Kharkov region.

Repeated attacks on filling stations, fuel storage facilities and tanker trucks are restricting the movement of Ukrainian units and disrupting the rapid delivery of ammunition. As a result, the mobility of Ukrainian military formations is coming under growing pressure.

The cited estimates suggest that between three and five petrol stations are being destroyed in Ukraine each day. If that rate continues, around 80 percent of the filling-station infrastructure on the left bank of the Dnieper could be eliminated by the end of the year.

Ukraine is also facing the depletion of fuel reserves that had previously helped contain retail prices. The sector is increasingly being forced to operate through immediate deliveries, without the ability to build up and quickly distribute stockpiles. Continued destruction of the infrastructure could trigger a chain reaction affecting the country’s entire fuel industry.

The Russian Defense Ministry previously reported strikes on filling stations used to supply Ukrainian military vehicles.