tl;dr it's because of water. (It's always water isn't it?). This is the North Crimean Canal, dammed up since the Russian invasion of Crimea. Crimea is rapidly running out of water, and Russia needs this canal flowing again.
This is the canal's route, running from the Dnieper river across Crimea.
In 2014, after the Russian invasion, Ukraine decided the best option would be to cut Crimea off, so they dammed the canal.
Crimea is now running dangerously short on water, and the situation is quickly becoming untenable for the Russian occupation. ukrinform.net/rubric-polytic…
The dam is currently 16km from the border
BUT, the mouth of the canal is over 60km from the border
In order to successfully restore water to Crimea, Russia would probably have to retake this area
So, imagine if your this cheery looking fellow, Gen. Oleg Salûkov. Putin just popped into your office and told you that the canal must be taken ASAP. What would you do?
I'm going to work off the great @Liveuamap now. You already have Ukrainian defensive positions set up against rebel forces in the west, but they aren't in the best condition. In the south, Ukrainian troops could move in quickly at any sign of military mobilization. So no surprise
@Liveuamap If you know you can't surprise them, you have to overwhelm them. First, you have to tie down ready reserves in a quagmire to the east with the rebels. Give the rebels a bunch of armored vehicles (which has been happening over the past month) and make them distract the Ukrainians.
@Liveuamap Now, you probably have about enough troops to meet the 3:1 ratio against a dug in opponent, lets look at the local area.
@Liveuamap Good, this looks like a ready-made trap for any defender. Knock out the bridges over the Dneiper and the only way in or out is to the east. Make a hard push to the river and you can probably cut off most of the Ukrainian defenders. Then all you have to do is mop up any resistance
@Liveuamap From this, you can see how the Russian troop movements fit in. Sprinkle some airborne troops to capture important objectives, and the plan starts to come together. All in all, a very attractive proposition was probably placed on Putin's desk.
@Liveuamap Quick, easy war, complete destruction of your enemies' front line troops, and restoration of the water supply to Crimea.
Overnight, after a Ukrainian missile strike, multiple explosions, flames, and at least one pillar of smoke were seen in the vicinity of Saky Airbase in Russian-occupied Crimea.
This morning, Russian milbloggers and locals reported damage at the airbase.
Russian Air Force adjacent milblogger Fighterbomber opened with a message of “everlasting memory”
He then launched into a longer rant, posted a few hours later, bemoaning Russian failures to build proper aircraft shelters.
In a report just released from the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon found another $2 billion in overvaluations of equipment delivered to Ukraine.
As a result, an additional $2 billion worth of arms can be sent to Ukraine to cover the difference approved by the US.
The GAO report includes a reasonably clear explanation of how the accounting errors had been made.
In short, 10-year-old trucks were not worth $500k.
Breaking investigation from @hntrbrkmedia: Nano Nuclear Energy $NNE stock rose over 450% after going public in May, reaching a market cap of more than $750 million at peak.
Just one issue: it seems the company has no revenue, products, or patents for its core technology.
NNE claims it will bring nuclear microreactors to market between 2030 and 2031. The former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it “won't happen” — given that competitors with more resources have taken 15-20 years for similar projects.
Paul Dorfman (@dorfman_p), a visiting fellow at the University of Sussex’s SPRU, one of four nuclear experts who spoke with Hunterbrook Media for this investigation, said he believes Nano Nuclear is a “money-making exercise” for its executives. “And they know it is.”
This evening, multiple Ukrainian attack drones successfully hit Russia's Yeysk Airbase, home to the 859th Naval Aviation Training Center and multiple Russian strike aircraft, starting a large fire.
Multiple secondary explosions could be seen emerging from the blaze at the base.
Footage of a Ukrainian attack drone headed towards the base
NASA's FIRMS also detected multiple fire returns from the nearby 726th Air Defense Training Center.
Breaking- A Hunterbrook Media investigation found that a major global lithium supplier is draining water from the Argentinian Andes, forensic accountant finds red flags in financials.
Hunterbrook journeyed to the high Andes to investigate Arcadium Lithium $ALTM.
Responding to an “old claim” from the community, the company began an irrigation and revegetation project in 2020, which remains ongoing.
But satellite imagery we analyzed shows the area the company has targeted to restore accounts for less than 1% of the total damage.
Hunterbrook also found red flags in Arcadium's accounting:
Breaking: American food giant ADM lied about its major stake in two factories in Xinjiang — a Chinese region notorious for state-imposed forced labor.
Follow @hntrbrkmedia for more investigations like this one, which used sat imagery, trade data, light pollution data, and more.
In a document posted to the sustainability section of its website earlier this year, the company claimed there was “no identifiable direct or indirect connection between ADM and the region.”
But the facilities are owned by a subsidiary of Wilmar International, a Singapore-based conglomerate whose largest single shareholder is ADM.
ADM also has a seat on Wilmar’s board — and says it has “significant influence” on the company.