Since 2014, Crimea has been under Russian control. Ukraine, naturally, wants it back. But what does history show about the challenges of reconquering it? In a series of threads, I'll look at the lessons of past wars.
2/ Crimea's fascinating military history has been of interest to me for many years – I travelled there in the early 2000s to study its old battlefields, so some of this will be drawn from personal recollections and notes.
3/ Let's review Crimea's physical geography. It's a roughly diamond-shaped peninsula, about 320 km (200 mi) east to west by about 200 km (120 mi) north to south. It's mostly flat, apart from the Crimean (or Yayla) Mountains in the far south, which are up to 1,500m (5000 ft) high.
4/ Crimea borders the Black Sea on its west and south sides, and the Sea of Azov in the east. It's separated from Russia by the narrow Kerch Strait, across which Russia has built Europe's longest road and railway bridge to link it to the Russian mainland.
5/ The peninsula's climate is almost subtropical in the far south, but in the north and centre it's mostly arid, as a 2018 vegetation map highlights. Agriculture is dependent on an irrigation canal that runs from the Dnipro river in the Kherson region.
6/ Crimea is separated from the Ukrainian mainland by the Syvash, an area of salt lagoons and marshes which connects to the Sea of Azov via a narrow strait. It's also known as the Putrid or Rotten Sea for its pungent smell in the summer. (This image shows its *natural* colours.)
7/ The Syvash covers around 2,500 km² (965 mi²) and is up to 35 km (21 mi) wide, but is very shallow – only about 3 m (10 ft) deep at maximum. In some places and at the right times, it can be forded on foot. This is militarily significant, as we'll see.
8/ There are only three narrow places along the entire 100 km (62 mi) long northern flank of Crimea where the peninsula is connected to the Ukrainian mainland. This is why Crimea has often been called a "natural fortress", and makes it a difficult place to invade.
All three of these have been used to invade Crimea, as we'll see in later threads in this series.
10/ For completeness we should mention the Kerch Strait as an entry point, as that's also of military importance. It's only 3.1 km (1.9 mi) wide at its narrowest. As well as the bridge, it's also crossed by ferries from Port Krym to the Chushka Spit on the Russian side.
11/ The Arabat Spit is a 112 km (70 mi) long sand spit – the longest in the world – which is only 270m (885 ft) wide at its narrowest point. It's low and exposed, relies on two bridges to connect it to the Ukrainian mainland and only connects to Crimea at its far southern end.
12/ There is no proper road along the spit, only a sandy track, although Russia has suggested that it might create a new road to improve Crimea's connection to the Ukrainian mainland. Currently, though, it would be difficult for an army to pass along it.
13/ The Chonhar Peninsula is a narrow wedge of land extending south from the Ukrainian mainland into the Syvash, 20 km (12 mi) west of the Arabat Spit. Two road bridges and one railway bridge at its tip carry transport routes from Melitipol in Ukraine across the Syvash.
14/ The Perekop Isthmus is the only unbridged link between Crimea and the Ukrainian mainland. It's only 9 km (5.5 mi) wide at its narrowest point and is of vital military and economic importance. The road, railway line and canal from Kherson to Crimea all come through here.
15/ There are a few small towns on the isthmus. Perekop (pictured below) itself is technically the oldest – a town has existed there since ancient Greek times. Armyansk was founded by Armenian merchants to trade with the Tatars who formerly ruled Crimea.
16/ To the south, Krasnoperekopsk, literally "Red Perekop", is a Soviet town built to house workers at a nearby bromine factory. The village of Ishun a short way further south is also of military significance for its location near three lakes – Krasne, Kyatske and Kyrleutske.
17/ While there have been battles on the Chonhar Peninsula and Arabat Spit, the Perekop Isthmus has been recognised for millennia as the gateway to Crimea. A line of fortifications has existed across the isthmus for at least 2,500 years, and has repeatedly been fought over.
18/ The ancient Greek name for Perekop, Taphros, means 'dug-out place'. It likely reflected the presence of a ditch across the isthmus at this point. The ditch is still there – it's clearly visible from space – and was fortified further between the 15th and 20th centuries.
19/ The fortification, known variously as the Perekop Wall, Turkish Wall or Tatar Ditch, is up to 45m (150 ft) wide and was originally up to 20m (65 ft) deep. It was anchored at the Perekop end by the now ruined Or-Kapi fortress, from which Perekop takes its name.
20/ The fort was originally built by the Tatar Crimean Khanate in the 15th and 16th centuries to defend Crimea from the Mongol-descended Golden Horde. After the Horde's final defeat, the Tatars launched raids into the north to capture Slavs for the Ottoman slave trade.
21/ Not surprisingly, this caused conflict with the Cossacks who lived along the Dnipro. This brings us to the invasion of Crimea in 1675 by the Cossack Ivan Sirko, which will be the subject of my next thread in this series. /end
1/ Increasing numbers of Russian military policemen (VPs) are reportedly being deployed as assault troops, due to a shortage of manpower along the front lines in Ukraine. The news is being greeted with glee by Russian warbloggers, who detest the corrupt and often brutal VPs. ⬇️
2/ The Russian Telegram channel 'Fox and Raven' reports:
"Across the entire front, there is a clear trend of gradually sending military police into assaults. There are fewer and fewer people in all directions."
3/ "Apparently, the flow of people wishing to sign a contract is not as large as we would like."
Russian warblogger Vladimir Romanov responds with undisguised satisfaction:
"I've never met more daring, charged fighters (and the closer to the rear – the more charged)."
1/ Very unhappy Russian troops along the Dnipro river in the Kherson region say they are living in terrible conditions, eating nettles, drinking water from shellholes, and living under constant threat from Ukrainian drones which have cut off their supplies of food and water. ⬇️
2/ The difficulties facing the Russians along the Dnipro have previously been highlighted by soldiers complaining that they are being sent to their deaths in futile attempts to seize swampy islands in the Dnipro delta.
3/ In a recently published video, a soldier from an unidentified unit shows a plastic bottle of filthy water that is all he has to drink in his riverside position and complains:
"Problems with water, with food, fuck it, problems with everything, fuck!"
1/ Russia's push to capture Pokrovsk is still being seriously hampered by Ukrainian drones, which are causing major problems for Russian logistics and supplies. Vehicles are unable to reach within 10 km of the front line because of the constant threat of drone attacks. ⬇️
2/ A Russian soldier on the ground writes to the 'Philologist in ambush' Telegram channel about the situation on the front line south of Pokrovsk:
"Everything hasn't changed much, we're still butting heads in the same places.
3/ "Novovasylivka is still behind us, there are head-on battles in Uspenivka, sometimes the faggots will take it, sometimes we'll recapture it, in principle, it's more behind us, but it's more of a gray area.
1/ A paedophile who committed murder, theft, robbery and rape, and served four prison sentences before joining the Russian army to fight in Ukraine, has been arrested for raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl while on leave in Russia. ⬇️
2/ 13-year-old Violetta Smirnova went missing on 21 March in the Tver region of Russia. After an intensive search, her body was found in a forest area eight days later, 11 km from her home village of Ryazanovo. She had been raped and strangled with a belt.
3/ Investigators soon afterwards arrested 34-year-old Aleksandr Sergeev from the nearby Firovsky District. He had given the girl a ride after she missed her bus to school, but instead took her into a forest and killed her.
1/ Russian soldiers are deserting because of abusive commanders who enjoy impunity to rob them, beat them, and punish them by sending them to die in futile assaults. A Russian warblogger appeals for them to be treated mercifully by the Russian army. ⬇️
2/ Anastasia Kashevarova writes of the problem of soldiers being "deprived of protection from illegal actions by the command", deserting, being recaptured and then being sent into assaults as punishment without any of the root causes being addressed:
3/ "There are cases, and there are many of them, when soldiers run away from the front, although they are ready to fight, but due to the actions of individual commanders (non-statutory relations) they are forced to desert.
1/ Russian soldiers are complaining that their Mad Max-style modified vehicles, with camouflage and anti-drone protection, are attracting fines (and demands for bribes) from traffic cops because they are no longer compliant with traffic regulations. ⬇️
2/ As previously reported, traffic police in Russia's border regions have reportedly been systematically fining Russian troops driving vehicles to the front lines. Russian warbloggers have been giving more details about the situation.