Trap for Russians: US General told how Ukraine will return Crimea
Everything should start with the expected spring counter -offensive of Ukraine. About it reports Newsweek. The Armed Forces command has perfectly accurate intelligence on Russian troops on the occupied peninsula. "They know geography, weather conditions, what the Russians have there," he explained. According to Ben Hodges, Kyiv will not be able to ensure the safety of commercial navigation in the Black Sea until it liberate the peninsula.
"If the Russians continue to control Crimea, or by defeating Ukrainians, or through a peace treaty, Ukraine will never be able to restore its economy because Crimea blocks access to the Azov Sea," he said, adding that large ports as Odessa and Nikolaev. , which are under the reliable control of Ukraine, will still be at risk from the Crimea. What can Ukraine do to minimize the threat from the Crimea? "First, you isolate the peninsula.
If you look at the map, it looks more and a dead end for the Russians. The land corridor extending from the Russian border in Rostov, through Donetsk, Mariupol, Berdyansk and Melitopol and the Dnieper River, became the greatest achievement of Russian troops in the year of the war. The corridor allows the Russian Federation to provide the supply of the Crimean peninsula, which by February 2022 passed solely through the bridge through the Kerch Strait.
The offensive of the Armed Forces from Zaporozhye and Kherson threatens the existence of such a corridor. "I do not know for sure, but I think it is one of the most important goals of the Ukrainian offensive. To block this land bridge, and then the second stage will begin," - said the former US troops in Europe. If the Armed Forces can go to the border of Crimea, the reach of the area will be the main part of military and infrastructure purposes.
There are many goals on the peninsula: Saky airfield, Navy base in Sevastopol and others. "You start bombing targets to make the peninsula inappropriate for the dislocation The city of Saki, "Hodges said about the second stage of the counter -offensive. "In the army, which depends on numerous infantry, there should be headquarters and artillery. At the expense of accuracy, you can bear command points, places of storage of ammunition and transport hubs," he said.
In his opinion, this should be the second stage: to make staying and swimming off the coast of Crimea for Russian troops dangerous. "If Ukraine had an ATACMS system, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation would already have to leave. The same applies to the Saky airfield and a number of other goals," he said. Gray Eagle drones could "make a difference".
According to him, Ukraine is not transferred to these systems because the US administration, the government of Germany, Britain and France are not 100% interested in the victory of Ukraine. "They, I think, worry that it will somehow lead to nuclear escalation, or to the collapse of the Russian Federation, and the Chinese do not want it. Or perhaps Europeans. But the point is that they do not try to say: we want, we want, we want To win Ukraine, "the analyst said.
Gray Eagle is an American reconnaissance and awarded drone that is produced by General Atomics. Fighting on the peninsula, where partly swampy terrain, partly mountains, will be complex. "We need to go there and clean it. As it happens, I'm not fully confident now. This task is not simple, that's for sure. But I think Ukrainians will come up with how to do it," he said. The analyst does not think that the Armed Forces will be demolished by the Crimean bridge in the close term.
"I think it will be left for people to go. They will literally have a bridge to evacuate if they do not want to be under Ukrainian control," Hodges said. Once he will be demolished, but not in the near future. After the loss of Crimea in the Kremlin, there will be fewer enthusiasts who want to cling to the destroyed east of Ukraine, since Donbas requires the Russian Federation exclusively as a land corridor to the Crimea.
"I do not think that they are concerned about the fate of these small villages in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, even though they lost thousands of their soldiers there," the analyst said. According to the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov, the Russians build a defense in Crimea in four lines, carry equipment and personnel. Earlier it was reported that the Russians flee from the Crimea before the Counter -offensive of the Armed Forces, and a yellow level of danger was announced on the peninsula.