Russians fight each other at petrol stations after fuel starts drying up

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Motorists are fighting for fuel at petrol stations across Russia after Ukranian drone strikes severely disrupted the country’s oil infrastructure.

Many drivers have reported queuing for hours or even days to fill up their vehicles.

As the domestic impact from Putin’s war continues to be felt, many Russians are beginning to turn on the president as they feel the squeeze in their everyday lives.

Tanya, 29, was among motorists who waited 13 hours to get half a tank of fuel in Siberia.

Some desperate drivers have been reported attempting to jump queues as impatience boils over.

In the mining town of Serov in the western region of Sverdlovsk Oblast, officers were called after a male driver punched a woman while shouting at several others.

A fight also broke out at a forecourt in the western city of Ryazan.

At one petrol station in Siberia, two women were seen arguing over who was ahead in the line.

One told the other: ‘So you should have stayed [in the queue].

The row descended into chaos as one woman said ‘go f*** yourself’ only for the other to threaten to hit them ‘in your f***ing face now’.

In Irkutsk, Siberia, a man wearing jeans and a black t-shirt repeatedly hit a fellow motorist through his car window in frustration.

Mafia groups have also sought to capitalise on the shortage, with police in one region forced to intervene after a cabal were caught reselling fuel at triple its market price.

It comes as Ukrainian forces hit several critical targets, including a drone strike on the Moscow refinery of oil giant Gazprom Neft.

Putin attempted to address the growing crisis, which has spread to all of Russia’s 83 regions.

He conceded Ukrainian air strikes on infrastructure had caused ‘problems’ for motorists and businesses, but insisted fuel reserves were only four per cent down on last year.

‘Unfortunately, there are also queues at [filling] stations, and it’s not always possible to find the right type of gasoline’, he said.

‘And, of course, we understand the difficulties faced by agricultural producers and farms in the summer period.’

The president pledged to increase supplies, including by sea to Crimea which has almost run dry, after land routes were disrupted by Ukrainian forces.

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