Ukraine war briefing: Russia running on imported gasoline, government confirms

Original article by Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies

• Russia has ⁠begun importing fuel, its government has confirmed, as a shipload of gasoline arrived from India. A fuel ​exporter in peacetime, Russia has been forced to turn to imports after ⁠Ukrainian strikes on ​its refineries and depots in response to the Russian invasion. The campaign by Kyiv’s military has been a major success, causing fuel shortages across Russia and in illegally occupied Crimea. At least one cargo of gasoline from India has just entered ⁠Russia’s domestic market, three ⁠industry ​sources told Reuters and shipping data showed. Russia is also arranging rail imports of gasoline from Belarus ​and Kazakhstan, and has placed a ‌ban on fuel ‌exports. Reuters reported last week that Russia had also begun shipping in diesel from Asia.

• An Oman-flagged tanker loaded about 68,000 tonnes of gasoline at the Port Said anchorage in a ship-to-ship transfer from the tanker Agni, which had been loaded ‌at India’s Vadinar port, sources told Reuters. The tanker unloaded at Russia’s Arctic port of Vitino ​in early August, shipping data showed. India has been one of the keenest customers of Russian oil held at low prices by war sanctions.

• The importation of refined Indian products is a reversal of the flow that speaks to the toll of the war on Russia’s own processing capabilities. According ​to industry data, at least two more ​gasoline cargoes from India ‌are expected ​to arrive ​at Russian ports within the next two weeks. Russian deputy prime minister Alexander ⁠Novak acknowledged on Wednesday that imports had begun but did not give details on the ⁠volumes or sources. Fuel stations in Moscow have reimposed purchasing limits, according to Reuters ⁠witnesses and fuel suppliers. State-owned Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company, said petrol purchases were restricted to 30 litres at all its stations across the country.

• At least five people died in Kyiv during Russian strikes early on Thursday, local officials and the military reported. A heavy attack with missiles hit residential areas and warehouses, said the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko. “The upper floors of a nine-storey residential block have collapsed and a fire has broken out,” he said. “At another address, people are trapped inside a residential block.” Ukraine’s air force warned that Russia had fired Kalibr missiles at the capital. On Wednesday a Russian drone hit a minibus in Kherson, killing four people, said Ukrainian prosecutors, while at Zhytomyr in central Ukraine a Banderol drone-missile hit the police headquarters, killing two officers and wounding at least 20 others, the police service said. In Russia’s border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk two people were killed when drones hit cars, said Russian officials.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired a senior aide amid a fresh corruption investigation, Dan Sabbagh writes. Iryna Mudra, a presidential deputy chief of staff, was dismissed by decree after multiple reports in Ukrainian media that her house was being searched by officials investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme. The Nabu anti-corruption agency said it was investigating a criminal conspiracy that involved “the participation of high-ranking officials from the office of the president” and several others.

• A Ukrainian man has been arrested in Croatia as part of an investigation into the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Germany and Russia. Prosecutors identified the suspect only as Vladimir Z, but he is understood to be the same man arrested by Poland last year, then released after a Polish court ruled against executing a European arrest warrant issued by Germany. He was identified in that court as Volodymyr Zhuravlev. Prosecutors allege the trained scuba diver was directly involved in the explosions.

• Berlin will seek the man’s extradition to face trial at the federal court in Karlsruhe, in Germany. The German prosecutor’s office said the suspect “belonged to a group of people, including the separately prosecuted Serhiy K, who planted explosives near the island of Bornholm in September 2022 on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines”.

• The UN’s humanitarian chief has visited Kherson, where he saw the impact of Russian drones and described the situation as chilling, with civilians and aid efforts targeted. Marked vehicles of aid workers had been hit despite being protected under international law, Tom Fletcher said. Particularly exposed were the local organisations carrying out aid missions on behalf of Ukraine’s humanitarian fund. “They’re the ones who are saying most loudly to us, we’re not protected.”

• Russia and Ukraine exchanged 103 prisoners of war each, officials from both sides said on Wednesday. Ukrainian intelligence said another swap was ‌expected before the end of August.