War in Ukraine: Fuel shortage in Russia, rationing and drone strikes

Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Saturday, August 15, on the 1,633rd day of the conflict.

Fact of the day

The fuel shortage continues to hit Russia, since Ukraine massively attacks refineries across the country. “The situation remains tense in several regions of the country with regard to the supply of fuel to service stations,” the Russian government confirmed on social networks this Saturday.

According to regional governor Vladislav Chapcha, the Kaluga region, bordering Moscow, is introducing a fuel rationing system based on vehicle registration plates this Saturday. At the same time, the authorities of the Astrakhan region have decided to cap gasoline sales at a maximum of 40 liters per car.

The number of the day

152. During the night from Friday to Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force recorded the launch of 152 drones by Russia, of which 124 were destroyed or neutralized by anti-aircraft defense. Impacts and falling debris were observed in 17 locations in total.

The “battle of the drones” continues, since, for its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have shot down or neutralized 598 Ukrainian drones during the same night, without communicating the total number of devices launched by kyiv.

Impressive figures, but which are only a small part of the production. Russia, like Ukraine this year, produces around seven million drones per year, or nearly 20,000 per day.

Today's statement

Relations between Ankara and Moscow would be “severely compromised” if American arms and ammunition, currently in the hands of the Turkish army, were given to kyiv.

This is the not exactly friendly warning from the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, after learning, according to Human Rights Watch, that Turkey had requested authorization from the United States to transfer weapons in its possession to Ukraine.

Today's trend

And as you can imagine, for a change, we’re still going to talk about a strike. Ukrainian this time. “In the Samara region, Russia, one of the key companies of the Roscosmos group was affected: the Progress center, which was notably involved in the production of electronics. Flamingo missiles were used, which is a success,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Our file on the War in Ukraine

The Flamingo is a Ukrainian-made heavy cruise missile that the country is increasingly using to target long-range strategic targets. The Roscosmos company was thus 800 kilometers from the border. Technically, the Flamingo is supposed to be able to strike targets up to 3,000 kilometers away.