War

1559th day. Fuel production in Russia fell to 2009 levels due to drone attacks. Zelensky sees a “window of opportunity” for negotiations to end the war

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us your thoughts about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect your life and your attitude towards the world? If you have a story related to the war, tell it . The feedback form is at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

Russia

Ukrainian drones carried out at least 16 strikes on Russian oil refineries in May. According to Bloomberg, this is a record since the beginning of the great war between Russia and Ukraine.

Over the past month, the publication recalls, at least eight oil refineries, among the ten largest in Russia, have been hit. Thus, the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl was attacked three times, and Lukoil enterprises in Perm and Nizhny Novgorod - twice.

Production at Russian refineries has fallen to its lowest level since 2009. Analytics firm OilX estimates the May average to be 4.58 million barrels per day. This is about 700 thousand barrels per day, or 13% less than a year earlier, and is the lowest level since October 2009.

As Sergei Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Berlin Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, noted , recently the Armed Forces of Ukraine have begun to strike more often not only at installations where all the oil supplied to refineries is distilled, but also at secondary processing installations that are more difficult to repair and maintain.

Ukrainian strikes also target export terminals and oil pipeline infrastructure, as well as fuel depots. In total, at least 30 drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure facilities were recorded in May.

If Russia hopes to produce and store more fuel to avoid a repeat of fuel crises, this may be more difficult given reduced capacity and storage volumes, Vakulenko said.

At the same time, Bloomberg notes, Russia has increased crude oil exports amid a global energy shortage due to the stoppage of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the publication notes, so far all these factors have not led to an acute fuel crisis in Russia. Restrictions on the sale of gasoline, as of June 1, were introduced only in annexed Crimea.

On average, gasoline prices in Russia have increased by a little more than 2 rubles since the beginning of the year. However, the publication notes, the slight increase may be due to the fact that many gas stations belong to large Russian manufacturers who have their own fuel and receive government subsidies.

Novaya Gazeta Europe wrote on May 22 that independent gas station chains, which account for about 40% of fuel sales in Russia, cannot replenish gasoline supplies. The publication's sources said the reason for the shortage was that large oil companies, which themselves extract, produce and sell fuel, almost stopped selling petroleum products on the stock exchange in St. Petersburg due to the shutdown of refineries - they send everything to their own gas stations.

Also, Bloomberg recalls, from April 1 there is a ban on the export of gasoline from Russia. On June 1, the Russian government also for the first time banned the export of aviation kerosene .

At the same time, the Kremlin says that it does not see the risks of a fuel crisis in Russia due to drone strikes on oil refineries. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov told reporters on May 21 that the reduction in fuel production is due to “seasonal preventive work.” “The entire fuel balance has been calculated and has the necessary compensation system,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Energy “keeps this issue under constant control.”

Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky told CBS News that Ukraine has a “window of opportunity” before winter to make progress on the front and secure a better position in negotiations to end the war.

Since December 2025, according to the President of Ukraine, Russia began to lose the initiative on the battlefield. “I shared this information with our American partners. “I told them in January that I think we have a window to negotiate because every month they will lose more and more people and they will lose,” he said. According to Zelensky, Russian troops were unable to occupy more territory in a month than they lost.

It is precisely because Russia is beginning to lose on the battlefield, Zelensky believes, that it is now launching massive missile attacks on Ukraine. “I believe that in winter, before winter, we need to find a way, a diplomatic way, to sit down and talk,” Zelensky said.

The success of the negotiations depends on pressure on the Kremlin, including from Russian society, Zelensky emphasized, adding that it is necessary to continue sanctions pressure on Russia.

War in photographs

June 1 is International Children's Day. In Ukraine, many children have been forced to go to underground schools for several years due to Russian shelling. In Kharkov alone, as of May 2026, nine underground rooms were equipped for teaching students. "Medusa" shows how lessons are held in schools underground.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

How we choose letters

Meduza's readers live in different countries and have different attitudes towards the war. We publish your letters to see this event through your eyes. Our editors try to present all points of view, even if they do not coincide with the editorial position. However, in accordance with the Meduza code, we do not publish messages that contain “hate speech,” justify the murder of civilians, or express direct support for an aggressive war.

Anastasia (Germany) . I was always against the war, was involved in activism and left Russia due to the risk of political persecution. My family stayed there.

My attitude towards the war has not changed and is not changing. War is a terrible tragedy for all countries involved in it. It seems that we have all read a lot of books about what war is and what horrors it brings, but we have forgotten. And now we remember, but due to the fact that we live these events on our own.

From the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, I was scared, I was terrified that in the 21st century someone could decide to start killing people en masse in another country, sending their citizens into meat assaults. And it was almost obvious that in this situation there would be no “friends” or “strangers”. That those who make decisions will frankly not care about the fact that someday explosions will occur anywhere in Russia. Because they are up there. And they have the resources to hide and sit out in a quiet place, while the people who did not elect this elite and this president will face the consequences of a war that they did not start. People who just wanted to live their lives quietly.

I'm still scared and terrified. And I'm still furious. And it pains me because of the lack of basic ideas about humanism and the value of every human life among Putin and his retinue. They continue to sacrifice the safety of people in their country, continuing their criminal military aggression against Ukraine for the sake of... what?

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