At A Gas Station In Moscow, Russians Are Being Prepared For The Worst-case Scenario

• 21.08.2026, 19:15

The fuel shortage could last throughout September.

The fuel shortage in Russia, triggered by Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries and other fuel infrastructure in the country, shows no signs of abating anytime soon. The current situation will apparently persist at least through the entire month of September. This was reported by an employee at one of Moscow’s gas stations, who was responding to a customer’s question about when the gasoline crisis might end. A video of this conversation is circulating widely on social media, according to “Dialog”.

The footage shows a long line at one of Moscow’s gas stations—a station employee warns drivers that the station will close at 2:00 p.m. because they’ve run out of gas.

“We’re closing now; we’re running out of fuel. That’s it—we’re closing at 2. We’ll reopen at 5 at the earliest, if a fuel tanker arrives,” she said.

When one of the drivers asked for clarification—whether there was any insider information on when the fuel crisis might end—the gas station employee replied that the outlook was “very bad.”

“The forecasts are very bad right now. We’ll definitely be living like this through September. They won’t be able to do anything in time,” she added.

A similar situation is being observed not only in Moscow and the Moscow Region, but also in a number of other Russian regions. For example, a video posted online on August 20 shows a massive line at a gas station in Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai.

“There are 180 cars in front of us, and at least as many behind us,” the drivers say in the video, adding that people have to wait in line for up to 16 hours in the hope of filling up.