Traffic on the R-280 Novorossiya federal highway, which connects the Rostov region with the annexed Crimea, has been disrupted by Ukrainian drone strikes. This caused a shortage of gasoline on the peninsula: at gas stations you can buy no more than 20 liters per day. Many gas stations have no fuel at all.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov maleThat the Ukrainian Armed Forces “launch a logistical closure” of the Russian army in order to increase pressure in the rear and suppress its ability to conduct active offensive operations.
The Russian-appointed head of the annexed part of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Paletsky, said on May 29 that the Ukrainian armed forces were using a “comprehensive remote mining system”: drones drop explosive devices that are activated when movement is detected. Paletsky asked drivers to “limit trips unless absolutely necessary.”
In turn, the Minister of Transport of the annexed part of the Zaporozhye region, Nikolai Lukashenko, said that the highway leading to the Crimean peninsula “works as usual” and “there are no obstacles for a long time,” but in certain sections of road traffic can be difficult “depending on the operational situation.”
In the annexed part of the Kherson region, travel on the highway leading to the Crimean Peninsula has been limited since May 21. The corresponding decree was signed by the Russian-appointed “governor” Vladimir Saldo. This excludes means of transport transporting military goods, fuel, medicines and perishable food.
On May 29, Saldo reported that when a mine dropped by a drone exploded near the border of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, a Kamaz truck driver was killed, and several other vehicles were damaged. “Mines were scattered on the road and along the sides of the roads,” Saldo wrote in a telegram. “They are caused by movement, so they pose a deadly danger to civilian transportation.”
“The enemy is trying to create the illusion of siege” by striking the land corridor leading to Crimea, Paletsky said. Saldo, in turn, compared the attacks of the Ukrainian armed forces to the siege of Leningrad: “This is cynical barbarism. Such actions, in their cruelty, remind us of the fascist siege of Leningrad, when the enemy tried to intimidate people, disrupt communications between regions, and break the will of the civilian population.”
The Novorossiya Highway runs from Rostov-on-Don through the territories annexed by Ukraine to Simferopol. This is one of the main routes for fuel supplies to Crimea. Gasoline is also transported by ferries across the Kerch Strait, but the operation of the crossing depends on weather conditions. Advisor to the President of Crimea, Alexander Talipov, said that for safety reasons, fuel is not transported through the Crimean Bridge.
Ukrainian drone attacks on the highway led to a gasoline shortage in Crimea. Sevastopol President Mikhail Razvozaev reported on May 29 that there were no AI-92 and AI-95 at the city’s gas stations. He added that diesel fuel is available, but not at all gas stations. On May 30, Razvozaev promised to provide supplies, but admitted that the authorities were dealing with the issue of fuel supplies “manually.”
Razvozaev did not explain why there was not enough gasoline. He merely said that “logistical difficulties still exist and their causes are known.”
Gasoline sales in Crimea are limited to 20 liters per day. On the website of the Regional Ministry of Fuel and Energy to publish Lists of gas stations where gasoline is available. Crimean President Sergei Aksenov asked residents “not to buy gasoline for future use and to refuel vehicles as usual.”
In December 2025, Aksenov promised to prevent fuel shortages in Crimea. Notes “an agency”. “We have implemented a new logistics plan. Now we can be sure that we will always have fuel,” he said.