On July 10, 2026, Russian aerial bombs killed four people, including a 16-year-old, and injured at least nine others in Kramatorsk, a city in eastern Ukraine. Seven bombs hit residential buildings, a shop, and private homes, according to Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin Al Jazeera.

Kramatorsk is hit repeatedly. Because the city is important to Ukraine's military operations in the Donetsk region, Russian forces target it regularly. In March, a Russian attack there killed three people and injured 13 Reuters. On July 2, just eight days before this attack, strikes injured four more people and damaged apartment buildings, a shop, and a vehicle dn.gov.ua. Regional officials also remember a 2023 missile strike on a restaurant in the city that killed 13 people, including three children dn.gov.ua.

On the same day, Ukraine struck back. Ukraine's military targeted Russian oil refineries and fuel storage facilities in three different Russian regions. These included the Ilsky refinery in Krasnodar, the Ust-Luga complex in Leningrad region, and oil terminals in Rostov Al Jazeera. Ukraine also reported attacking 10 tanker ships in the Sea of Azov that day. Russia responded by temporarily banning gasoline and diesel exports. Russia's government said this was necessary because Ukrainian drone strikes were causing fuel shortages at home. President Putin said the situation was serious but "not critical."

Ukraine has been attacking Russian refineries much more often this year. In June, Reuters reported that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries had doubled since the beginning of 2026. Multiple refineries have shut down partly or fully because of these strikes Reuters. On July 1, Ukraine hit the Ufa refinery for the second time — it is more than 1,300 kilometers away from the fighting Reuters. Three days later, on July 6, Ukraine struck the Omsk refinery in Siberia, one of Russia's largest refineries. After the attack, the facility completely stopped processing oil Reuters. Earlier in June, Ukraine also hit an oil terminal near St. Petersburg Reuters.

Ukraine is not targeting refineries close to the fighting. Instead, it is hitting refineries spread across Russia — from the Baltic coast near St. Petersburg to areas near the Black Sea, and deep into Siberia. This strategy aims to damage Russia's ability to produce fuel for both its civilian economy and its military. By forcing Russia to choose between supplying fuel to its own people or to its army, Ukraine hopes to strain Russia's resources. Russia's decision to ban fuel exports suggests it is choosing to protect its home fuel supply first.

It is unclear whether Russia's fuel shortage is truly manageable, as Putin claims, or if the government is trying to downplay a serious problem. What is clear is that Ukraine has shifted from occasional strikes to regular, sustained attacks on oil facilities. In the same period, Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities like Kramatorsk regularly. Neither side shows any sign of stopping soon.