There are a shit ton of Russian citizens living in Crimea since 2014, many were intentionally moved there to firm up Russia's claim of ownership on the peninsula. If Ukraine surrounds the city from its west and destroys the bridge over the Kerch Strait, all of those Russian citizens are now trapped. They become bargaining chips. Ukraine …
There are a shit ton of Russian citizens living in Crimea since 2014, many were intentionally moved there to firm up Russia's claim of ownership on the peninsula. If Ukraine surrounds the city from its west and destroys the bridge over the Kerch Strait, all of those Russian citizens are now trapped. They become bargaining chips. Ukraine offers safe passage for them back to Russia if Russian forces leave Luhansk/Donestk. It would also be major egg on the face of Putin if Crimea gets cut off even if negotiations don't begin right away. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed there at Sevastopol. Sorry I wasn't very clear about that part.
Ah, now I understand and I agree with this assessment. I also hope that the land bridge gets cut off for all of these trickle down problems it causes for Russia
You don't necessarily need a Navy to take Sevastopol if your land forces are well within range. They can hit Sevastopol with Storm Shadow and HIMARS once they start making land gains and bring those weapon systems within range of Russian ships and their supply hub. Ukraine already took out the Russian flagship there (the Moskva) with anti-ship missile strikes--likely a Neptune missile (or something similar) fired from land.
A navy would be useful as a platform for missile strikes from yet another direction, not necessarily to just take Sevastopol The Poles recently delivered 14 MIG 29's to pair with the Storm Shadows so in theory UKR could hit Sevastopol now.
There are a shit ton of Russian citizens living in Crimea since 2014, many were intentionally moved there to firm up Russia's claim of ownership on the peninsula. If Ukraine surrounds the city from its west and destroys the bridge over the Kerch Strait, all of those Russian citizens are now trapped. They become bargaining chips. Ukraine offers safe passage for them back to Russia if Russian forces leave Luhansk/Donestk. It would also be major egg on the face of Putin if Crimea gets cut off even if negotiations don't begin right away. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed there at Sevastopol. Sorry I wasn't very clear about that part.
Ah, now I understand and I agree with this assessment. I also hope that the land bridge gets cut off for all of these trickle down problems it causes for Russia
Strategically Sevastopol is critical. Too bad Ukraine really doesn't have much of a Navy.
You don't necessarily need a Navy to take Sevastopol if your land forces are well within range. They can hit Sevastopol with Storm Shadow and HIMARS once they start making land gains and bring those weapon systems within range of Russian ships and their supply hub. Ukraine already took out the Russian flagship there (the Moskva) with anti-ship missile strikes--likely a Neptune missile (or something similar) fired from land.
A navy would be useful as a platform for missile strikes from yet another direction, not necessarily to just take Sevastopol The Poles recently delivered 14 MIG 29's to pair with the Storm Shadows so in theory UKR could hit Sevastopol now.
You more than made up for any confusion I felt.
I aim to please! :-D