Crimea plays a crucial role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

kyiv, Ukraine - The Crimean Peninsula hangs like a diamond off the southern coast of Ukraine, blessed with a temperate climate, vast beaches, lush wheat fields and orchards full of cherries and peaches.
It was also key staging ground for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.< /p>
Connected via bridge to Russia and serving as home to Moscow's Black Sea Fleet, Crimea provides a vital link in the supply chain of the Russian army that supports tens of thousands of soldiers now occupying a large swath of southern Ukraine.
For President Vladimir V. Putin, this is a land sacred, having been declared part of Russia by Catherine the Great in 1783, helping pave the way for her empire to become a naval power. Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954. And because Ukraine was then a Soviet republic, not much has changed.
But when the Soviet Union collapsed, nearly four decades later, Russia lost its jewel. Mr Putin thus claimed to right a historic wrong by illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.
ImageRussian soldiers surrounding a Ukrainian base in Perevalnoye, Crimea in 2014.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Mr. Putin promised at the time that he had no intention of further dividing Ukraine. Yet eight years later, in February, tens of thousands of Russian troops stormed the northern peninsula, sparking the current war.
These days, military targets in Crimea have been attacked, and the peninsula once again finds itself in the midst of a major power struggle.
Military significance
In the beginning of the war, Russian troops surging from Crimea seized swaths of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions that remain key to the Russian occupation of southern Ukraine.
Crimea, in turn, offers key logistical support to Russia to maintain its army of occupation, including two main rail links on which Russia press to move heavy military equipment. Crimean airbases were used to stage sorties against Ukrainian positions, and the peninsula provided a launching ground for Russian long-range missiles.
The peninsula is also home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet military, helping Russia maintain dominance over the sea, including a naval blockade that crippled Ukraine's economy.
A Place in the Sun
Russia is cold: a fifth country is above the Arctic Circle. But it can be positively sweet in the sun-drenched Crimean city of Yalta.
"Russia needs its paradise," wrote Prince Grigory Potemkin, General and lover of Catherine the Great, when he urged her to claim the land.
Crimea is where Tsars and Politburo presidents kept holiday homes. Before the West imposed sanctions on Russia for illegally annexing the peninsula, it was a place where wealthy Eastern Europeans went to relax and party. the city's pine-lined lanes,” proclaimed a 2006 New York Times Travel article about Yalta, adding, “Much, if not all, happens in this booming seaside town. »
Tourism fell sharply after 2014. But when

World Aug 17, 2022 0 79 Add to Reading List

Crimea plays a crucial role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

kyiv, Ukraine - The Crimean Peninsula hangs like a diamond off the southern coast of Ukraine, blessed with a temperate climate, vast beaches, lush wheat fields and orchards full of cherries and peaches.

It was also key staging ground for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.< /p>

Connected via bridge to Russia and serving as home to Moscow's Black Sea Fleet, Crimea provides a vital link in the supply chain of the Russian army that supports tens of thousands of soldiers now occupying a large swath of southern Ukraine.

For President Vladimir V. Putin, this is a land sacred, having been declared part of Russia by Catherine the Great in 1783, helping pave the way for her empire to become a naval power. Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954. And because Ukraine was then a Soviet republic, not much has changed.

But when the Soviet Union collapsed, nearly four decades later, Russia lost its jewel. Mr Putin thus claimed to right a historic wrong by illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.

ImageRussian soldiers surrounding a Ukrainian base in Perevalnoye, Crimea in 2014.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Mr. Putin promised at the time that he had no intention of further dividing Ukraine. Yet eight years later, in February, tens of thousands of Russian troops stormed the northern peninsula, sparking the current war.

These days, military targets in Crimea have been attacked, and the peninsula once again finds itself in the midst of a major power struggle.

Military significance

In the beginning of the war, Russian troops surging from Crimea seized swaths of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions that remain key to the Russian occupation of southern Ukraine.

Crimea, in turn, offers key logistical support to Russia to maintain its army of occupation, including two main rail links on which Russia press to move heavy military equipment. Crimean airbases were used to stage sorties against Ukrainian positions, and the peninsula provided a launching ground for Russian long-range missiles.

The peninsula is also home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet military, helping Russia maintain dominance over the sea, including a naval blockade that crippled Ukraine's economy.

A Place in the Sun

Russia is cold: a fifth country is above the Arctic Circle. But it can be positively sweet in the sun-drenched Crimean city of Yalta.

"Russia needs its paradise," wrote Prince Grigory Potemkin, General and lover of Catherine the Great, when he urged her to claim the land.

Crimea is where Tsars and Politburo presidents kept holiday homes. Before the West imposed sanctions on Russia for illegally annexing the peninsula, it was a place where wealthy Eastern Europeans went to relax and party. the city's pine-lined lanes,” proclaimed a 2006 New York Times Travel article about Yalta, adding, “Much, if not all, happens in this booming seaside town. »

Tourism fell sharply after 2014. But when