The Wheels Are Coming Off Putin’s War
The Russian occupation of Crimea is facing significant challenges due to a Ukrainian blockade, which has led to fuel shortages, power outages, and food shortages. The blockade has also resulted in a significant decrease in tourism, with nearly 80 percent of hotel bookings canceled. The situation in Crimea is part of a larger Ukrainian strategy to force Russia to end the war, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing a forty-day operation of influence against Russia.
- ▪The Ukrainian blockade of Crimea has led to severe fuel shortages, with gas sales halted to individual car owners and reserved for public transit and official vehicles.
- ▪The blockade has resulted in widespread power outages and food shortages, with thousands of cars lining up to leave the peninsula.
- ▪Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced a forty-day operation of influence against Russia, coordinated with Ukrainian intelligence, to force Moscow to end the war.
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The Wheels Are Coming Off Putin’s WarFuel shortages, military unrest, and a strangled Crimea while the Kremlin dictator’s attempts to project confidence do nothing of the sort.Cathy YoungJun 30, 2026Share(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock)A FEW YEARS AGO, when there was still some leeway for acts of public dissent in Russia, some protesters against the Kremlin’s imperialist policy toward Ukraine carried signs that flipped the patriotic slogan Krym nash, “Crimea is ours,” into Nam krysh—a humorous abbreviation of the slang phrase meaning “We’re done for.”1 Today, nam krysh seems prophetic: The occupied peninsula that became the (stolen) jewel in Putin’s crown in 2014 finds itself under a Ukrainian blockade that has all but cut it off from the…
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