This summer, none of our friends or relatives still in Russia will holiday in Crimea. Many continued doing so after Russia's full-scale invasion, when Europe closed to Russian travellers and President Vladimir Putin's prized peninsula became a popular beach destination despite the occasional drone attack. 

Now, intensifying Ukrainian drone strikes, fuel shortages and mounting disruption have made even Crimea an unattractive place to spend a summer holiday.

For Putin, that is more than a tourism problem. Crimea was never just another piece of territory; it was the cornerstone of his political legitimacy.

After the annexation in 2014, "Krym nash" ("Crimea is ours") became Moscow's favourite catchphrase. I heard it everywhere. Taxi drivers, bartenders,  neighbours and television presenters repeated it until it morphed into an internet meme and everyday joke. Those two words encapsulated Putin's promise: Russia was back, defying the West and correcting a historical wrong.

The shocking annexation in the wake of Ukraine's Maidan Revolution allowed Putin to cast himself as the leader who had reversed Russia's post-Soviet humiliation. 

Twelve years later, Putin's Crimean fairy tale is colliding with reality. The peninsula is no longer the carefree Black Sea Riviera promised by the Kremlin.

Sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have disrupted fuel supplies, electricity and transport links, driving up prices and exposing Crimea's logistical fragility.

By late June, the queues for gasoline disappeared, but only because there was little left........

© The Moscow Times