Russian strikes injure six in Ukraine as fuel crisis deepens into Siberia

Six people were wounded in Russian air strikes on Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said, while Russia’s ongoing fuel crisis deepened into parts of Siberia.

The strikes came in the wake of a Ukrainian attack on a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s border Voronezh region on Monday that killed five people and injured dozens, according to the local governor.

Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange strikes as the war has dragged into a fifth year. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought support from Western allies for a peace deal while also pushing for fast-track admission to the European Union.

Two people sought medical help after Russian forces struck the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram, and three more people were wounded in Sumy, in the north, late on Monday, emergency services said.

One woman was injured in a drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram on Monday evening.

Early on Tuesday, Kyiv authorities briefly issued an air raid alert before withdrawing it.

Zelenskiy warned last week that Russia was preparing a massive attack — something Moscow has said it would conduct regularly. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022. Reuters could not independently verify details of the latest strikes. 

Fuel crisis deepens further into Siberia

Ukrainian attacks on maritime logistics and supply roads have sparked a fuel crisis in Russia and areas of Ukraine it controls. Kyiv’s intensified air strikes on Russian energy infrastructure hit targets as far away as Siberia, more than 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) from the front line, undermining the availability of gasoline and diesel in Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer.

The fuel crisis has spread from Russia-annexed Crimea to areas in the center and east and has also covered Siberian regions of Novosibirsk, home to city of the same name, Russia’s third largest, and Omsk close to Kazakhstan’s border.

The Omsk region, about 2,500 kilometres southeast of Moscow, is limiting fuel sales and the nearby Novosibirsk region is preparing to do the same, local governors said on Telegram.

The move was “to avoid artificially creating panic buying at gas stations and speculation,” Omsk Governor Vitaly Khotsenko said in a post on the platform on Monday evening, adding that sales of gasoline would be limited to 40 litres per car and diesel to between 80 and 200 litres, depending on location.

Sales of fuel for use in refuelling cans would be banned, he said.

The Novosibirsk region was also about to introduce restrictions to “prevent speculative demand,” Governor Andrei Travnikov said.

From Tuesday, Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil producer, was limiting gasoline and diesel sales in Voronezh region, the regional government said on Telegram.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted Europe to increase defence spending and partner with Kyiv on possible drone production.

The conflict has spurred Sweden and Finland, until recently members of the EU but not NATO, to join the alliance.

Foreign fighter jets escorted Russian strategic missile-carrying bombers during their 16-hour flight — which included air-to-air refuelling — in the neutral zone over the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday.

Russia borders NATO members Norway and Finland.

The defence ministry did not provide details on the origin of the foreign jets.