ZZsheyn

🇷🇺🇺🇸 PUTIN’S OIL SUPERPOWER IS RUNNING SHORT OF DIESEL WHILE TANKERS HEAD FOR AMERICA Russia is facing an increasingly embarrassing contradiction: diesel shortages are spreading around St. Petersburg while Russian fuel tankers are heading toward the United States. According to Rosbalt, diesel is available at just 62% of filling stations across St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region. Drivers are encountering shortages, queues and fuel restrictions. Meanwhile, three tankers carrying Russian diesel are heading toward America, including one vessel under sanctions. Russian propaganda attempted to celebrate the shipments with an image of a tanker supposedly sailing toward the US. But Russian investigative outlet Agenstvo exposed the photograph as manipulated, with a banner digitally added to an older image. The problems extend well beyond petrol stations. Ukrainian strikes have disrupted Russian refining operations, with diesel production estimated to have fallen by 30%. At the Novoshakhtinsk oil terminal in Rostov, satellite imagery shows damage to eight of twelve storage tanks. The facility previously handled up to 3.5 million tonnes of fuel annually, supporting exports and fuel distribution. Russia’s Black Sea trade is also under pressure. Ukrainian drone threats have driven container carriers away from Novorossiysk, a port that handled approximately 1.11 million TEU in 2025, representing more than a fifth of Russia’s container traffic. And despite elevated global oil prices, Russia’s oil and gas revenues are under growing pressure from infrastructure damage, transport costs and discounted exports. The consequences are becoming visible in places far removed from the Ukrainian front line. Russia can continue exporting fuel while experiencing domestic shortages, but that exposes an uncomfortable economic reality: foreign sales, military requirements and civilian demand are competing for increasingly strained infrastructure. Putin launched a war expecting Ukraine to bear the destruction. Now even the region surrounding his hometown is feeling its economic consequences.