As Ukrainian forces grow and pressure the Russian military to withdraw from territory stolen in the war in Ukraine this year, Moscow is running to sign that some of the territory it has taken from Ukraine is banned.
Russian Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov said Friday that Russia is defending itself in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed to Ukraine in 2014, amid growing fears that the Ukrainian government is trying to take it back.
“The security of the Republic of Crimea and its other inhabitants is guaranteed by measures taken on the orders of our president,” Aksyonov said. to make sure that the people of Crimea can feel reassured. “
Despite Aksyonov’s insistence, calm will reign in Crimea, according to Emil Ibragimov, director of the educational platform Q-Hub, civilians in Crimea have begun reading between the lines and fleeing as fears grow that Ukraine could take Crimea’s recovery seriously. Ibragimov told Radio NV that other people are fleeing to Russia’s Krasnodar region in the face of any radioactive fallout, according to Newsweek.
“That is, we see this trend and can conclude that of course it is panic and concern that the [Ukrainian] armed forces will liberate Crimea in the near future,” Ibragimov said.
Aksyonov’s attempt to craft Crimea’s narrative comes at a time when Russia’s plan to seize Ukraine seems more fragile than ever. Increasingly, Russian officials are wondering about the trial and war plans of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Counteroffensives through Ukrainian forces in Ukraine have forced Russia to withdraw from the multiple wallet it seized in this year’s conflict. Earlier this month, Ukrainian forces drove Russian troops out of Kherson, a key town that was Russia’s last stronghold west of the Dnieper, which Ukrainian officials see as a precursor to retaking Crimea.
Kherson lies just north of Crimea, and the defeat there represents a major setback to Putin’s dream of creating a land bridge between Russia and Crimea, offering additional incursions into Ukrainian territory.
Kherson’s loss also signals to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration that it may be time to move on to Crimea and oust Russia, The Daily Beast has learned. The head of Russia’s recovery of Crimea under Zelensky, Tamila Tasheva, told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview earlier this month that Kherson’s reconquest is a precursor to the recovery of Crimea, and that Zelensky’s leadership is looking at the military component of Russia’s expulsion.
“We perceive that it is similar, the deoccupation of Crimea, to the scenario on the battlefield, in southern Ukraine, especially the vacancy of Kherson,” Tasheva told The Daily Beast.
And while international relations are imperative to retake Crimea, “we are also talking about a mechanism of unemployment that includes, of course, parts of the army of unemployment,” Tasheva added.
Zelensky said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that there will be no peace until Ukraine retakes Crimea. “A simple ceasefire will do,” he said.
Indeed, Russia has turned its attention to Crimea in recent days, according to an investigation through British intelligence shared on Friday.
“After the withdrawal of their forces from the western Dnipro River, Russian forces continue to give priority to the remodeling, reorganization and preparation of defenses in the maximum spaces of Ukraine,” the intelligence investigation said. “The ensembles built new trench systems near the Crimean border. , as well as near the Siversky-Donets River between the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. “
The limited number of solid roads and railways in the domain may make it vulnerable to Ukrainian targets, according to the Institute for War Studies. However, Ukrainian forces are still believed to be on the east bank of the river.
The renewed focus on Crimea comes as Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in Ukraine and Russian leaders increasingly realize how ill-prepared the army is to adapt to Ukraine and its continued military assistance from the west, given Russia’s poor logistics and execution of war plans early on. of war. Russia’s reaction has been a frantic attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in an apparent attempt to use what little strength it has left to deprive Ukraine of energy resources over the winter, analysts say.
Russia introduced attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure after several attacks on army entities in Crimea in October. While Russian forces continue their offensives in Bakhmut, Avdiivka and the southwestern city of Donetsk, in the past 24 hours Russia has shelled the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk, according to the army’s regional administrations. Earlier this week, Russia introduced around a hundred missiles into Ukraine in what is believed to be one of its biggest attacks this year.
Recent Russian moves in Ukrainian infrastructure have knocked out about 50% of Ukraine’s energy formula, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. Friday.
The terrible scenario coincides with the first snowfall in Ukraine, indicating that more complicated winter days await us. Ukrainian officials began to worry that they would not repair all the damage caused by the attacks on electrical infrastructure for much longer, according to Politico.
Poland is bracing for an influx of Ukrainian refugees as the winter months begin and Ukraine may become increasingly uninhabitable, according to local reports.
Ukrainians will have to show resilience in the coming days if Russia continues its campaign, Ukrenergo warned on Friday.
“The limitation of entry is the result of Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine’s electrical system,” Ukrenergo said Friday. “This winter, we want to show power and courage to face the enemy on the power front. “
Shmyhal added on Friday that Ukraine had imported only about 9,000 turbines in a bid to ease difficulties with the power source, according to customs data.