The Strategy Behind the Battle for Crimea
Key takeaways
- To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, our entire site is completely unlocked this week only.
- Hundreds of burned-out and charred wrecks of tractor trailers, tanker trucks, and assorted military transports line the shoulders of Russia’s chief supply route to Crimea and occupied southern Ukraine from Russia proper.
- Since early April, wave after wave of Ukrainian drones have incapacitated the critical coastal route along the Sea of Azov and taken out Crimea’s northern bridges across the Chongar Strait.
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Hundreds of burned-out and charred wrecks of tractor trailers, tanker trucks, and assorted military transports line the shoulders of Russia’s chief supply route to Crimea and occupied southern Ukraine from Russia proper. Mile after mile of vehicle carcasses lie overturned and jackknifed in roadside ditches, supply transports that never reached their destination. This 390-mile stretch—the most direct route from the Russian supply hub of Rostov-on-Don to the Black Sea region—has earned itself the moniker “Highway of Death,” assigned to it by Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
Since early April, wave after wave of Ukrainian drones have incapacitated the critical coastal route along the Sea of Azov and taken out Crimea’s northern bridges across the Chongar Strait. Ukrainian strikes have choked maritime supply routes and disrupted rail services, leaving the only practical route to Crimea the Kerch Bridge in easternmost Crimea. It is being hit, too, and now handles a fraction of previous traffic—most of which is exiting Crimea. Late June has daily seen miles of cars backed up on the Kerch Bridge trying to leave Crimea.