At a petrol station in the south-east of Moscow, Svyatoslav has been queuing in his car for two hours. The sign board up ahead has just been changed to show there's no fuel. "They say there will be petrol here," Svyatoslav tells me optimistically.
"They just don't know when. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow." I ask him why he doesn't drive off and look for another place to fill up. "I haven't got enough in the tank to do that," Svyatoslav replies.
Even if he had, there'd be no quick fuel fix for Svyatoslav. This week across Moscow, and in other parts of Russia, there have been long queues for petrol. "Unscheduled repairs at oil refineries," explain Russian officials.
Those repairs have been triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities. Such long-range attacks sparked major fuel shortages earlier this summer. The targeting of oil refineries has continued apace.
This time the queues in Moscow are even longer than before. The authorities appear to be struggling to resolve problems with refining capacity and logistics. "The second wave of the fuel crisis is building," declared broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta this week.
Driving around Moscow this week two things catch the eye: patriotic announcements on giant billboards about Russian Flag Day…and giant petrol queues. Outside one Moscow petrol station I count 80 vehicles waiting in line. The search for fuel is now a constant struggle.
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