Russian forces in Crimea must ousted to prevent Moscow from using the peninsula as a springboard for “military purposes.”
Representative of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Cherniak has said that once Russian forces are removed from the annexed peninsula they will then implement the “Crimean goodwill gesture,” meaning it is then recaptured.
However Russia has made a significant and targeted effort to strengthen the northern border of Crimea which includes “a multi-layered defensive zone near the village of Medvedevka.”
Russia has dug “hundreds of miles of trenches well inside internationally recognised Russian territory, including in the Belgorod and Kursk regions” as they are preparing for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Read more on Russia-Ukraine war:
Russia preparing for ‘serious catastrophe on own soil’ at a ‘hydroelectric or nuclear plant’ to justify Ukraine retreat
The British Ministry of Defence have said in an intelligence briefing that the trenches dug by Russian forces shows that Moscow have concerns Ukraine may achieve “a major breakthrough.”
They added that it is highly likely this was “ordered by local commanders and civil leaders in attempts to promote the official narrative that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and NATO.”
A former commander of the US Army in Europe Ben Hodges has said that Ukraine must isolate Crimea from Russia.
Cherniak said in an interview with ArmyInform, reacting to Hodges suggestion, “The enemy must be cut off from Crimea – to make sure that Russia cannot use the temporarily occupied peninsula for military purposes and, finally, implement the so-called ‘Crimean goodwill gesture.”
Hodges previously said in an interview for Spirit of America that Crimea is decisive for the war and Ukraine will not be protected until Russian forces are expelled one way or another from the annexed peninsula.
❗️The attack on CRIMEA exact moment of the Ukrainian attack on the Russian oil refinery. pic.twitter.com/zqbPggcsf6
— Malinda 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇵🇱🇨🇦🇮🇹🇦🇺🇬🇧🇬🇪🇩🇪🇸🇪 (@TreasChest) May 1, 2023
Cherniak said, “Kilometre-long traffic jams on the illegally built bridge from Kerch to Russia is the right reaction.
“The Main Intelligence Agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry strongly recommends leaving the occupied Crimea while there is still such an option.”
As expected, Russians are leaving occupied Crimea en masse across the Kerch bridge after a morning drone strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet’s fuel depot. ✊#WindofChange https://t.co/yQ15u3l94s pic.twitter.com/9CCUGqZg2b
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) April 29, 2023
This comes as on Saturday Ukraine launched a daring raid in a drone attack which blew up an enormous oil tank in the port city of Sevastopol, Crimea, the Kremlin-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev claims.
This has sparked panic with thousands of Russian citizens in Crimea who are fleeing and heading back to the Russian Federation.
