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Will the Battle of Crimea be the next stage of the war in Ukraine? Ukrainian soldiers are only a few dozen kilometers from the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. The Russian army is preparing and digging trenches.
Propaganda images were broadcast on Monday, November 14, as a warning to Ukraine. Russian soldiers train in Crimea, on a territory considered by Moscow to be untouchable. “Sevastopol and Crimea will be Russia forever”, said Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, in November 2021. However, the Ukrainians are only 90 km from Crimea. In recent weeks they have bombed the peninsula, including an airport and Russian planes.
To assault, kyiv’s forces would have to cross the Dnieper River. “I think that all of the Russian forces are concentrated on the left bank of the Dnieper, and there are a lot of people there. We can’t do it like that, by force. It involves artillery preparations, intelligence quality, and (…) I think it’s far too early for the Ukrainians to consider crossing the river”believes Colonel Peer de Jong, vice-president of the Themis Institute and specialist in geopolitics.
To retake Crimea, kyiv will need more American aid and weapons. For the United States, helping to retake Crimea could be a point of no return with the Russians. In the meantime, the soldiers of Moscow are building trenches on the other side of the river, for an upcoming battle.