Alouchta, Perevalne, Saky, Simferopol… The night of Thursday May 23 to Friday May 24 was marked by new bombings in Crimea, a territory occupied by Russian forces since 2014, but which Ukraine does not intend to leave in its hands from Moscow. According to several messages and images broadcast on pro-Ukrainian networks, long-range ATACMS missiles reached several localities, located in the south of the peninsula, hitting a radar station here, a telecommunications center there… Two people were killed in the bombings, according to local authorities.
These targeted strikes on Crimea have been almost daily since the beginning of spring. Almost every night, missiles and drones, both aerial and naval, are launched by the Ukrainians at Russian military installations.
Belbek airfield, located in the south of the peninsula, was bombed two nights in a row, between May 14 and 16. Several combat aircraft and anti-aircraft systems were reportedly destroyed or damaged there. The long-range radar station at Mount Ai-Petri, on the southern coast, was hit on May 12. On May 19, a missile corvette was sunk in the port of Sevastopol…
Read the summary | Despite fatigue and setbacks, “the Ukrainians mobilized on the front do not intend to lay down their arms”
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If this obsession with Crimea could seem legitimate when the Ukrainian forces had the initiative on the ground, it is more challenging in view of the difficulties that kyiv encounters today in the north and east of the country. Why disperse its forces and not concentrate them on the assaults carried out by Moscow’s troops in the Donbass and in the Kharkiv region? Wouldn’t drones and missiles launched at Russian airfields and bases in Crimea be more useful in helping Ukrainian brigades contain enemy advances on the continent?
“Strategic priority”
According to Western analysts, Ukraine cannot afford to abandon the peninsula. “Crimea was presented by [le président] Volodymyr Zelensky as the strategic priority of 2024. Ukrainians are obliged to remain active there, even if their concerns today are more in Donbass and in the Kharkiv region”explains Thibault Fouillet, scientific director of the Institute for Strategy and Defense Studies.
The successes encountered by the Ukrainians in the region, where they notably chased the Russian Black Sea fleet from the port of Sevastopol, also make it possible to counterbalance the disappointments encountered in the North and the East, which is useful in supporting morale. troops and the population.
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