Russia is deploying new units to Crimea, as Ukraine looks to recapture the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014.
Speaking to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine representative Andriy Chernyak said that Russia is transferring new military units to the north of Crimea to keep the land corridor to the peninsula.
"Considering that our foreign partners supply us with new types of weapons, the so-called land corridor to Crimea is certainly not safe. Ukraine will strike Russian positions throughout the occupied territory," Chernyak said.
He appeared to be referring to the Patriot Missile Defense System that the U.S. committed in December to supplying to Ukraine as part of a $1.85 billion security assistance support package announced by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The ground-based Patriot system would be the most-advanced surface-to-air missile that Washington has provided Kyiv with since the war began. Possessing a range of more than 65 miles, it can detect, track, and engage drones, cruise missiles, and short-range or tactical ballistic missiles, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
Chernyak said that Russian forces are also continuing to build defense structures in the north of Crimea.
"They will lose. That's why they create defensive structures where they can, realizing that they will have to conduct combat operations on these lines," Chernyak added.
The British Ministry of Defence assessed on November 18 that Russia is regrouping its forces for a potential Ukrainian push into Crimea. It said Russian units have constructed new trench systems near the border of Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to take back Crimea hours after a counteroffensive in the Kherson region was launched at the end of August.
Zelensky said during a televised address on August 29, 2022, that Ukraine's military had "kept the goal" of recapturing Crimea since it was annexed by Putin.
"This war, which began with Russia's occupation of our Crimea, with an attempt to seize Donbas, must end precisely there—in the liberated Crimea, in the liberated cities of Donbas, with our troops reaching the state border of Ukraine," said Zelensky. "We have always kept this goal in mind. We do not forget about it.
"This will happen," Zelensky continued. "This is ours. And just as our society understands it, I want the occupiers to understand it, too. There will be no place for them on Ukrainian land... The occupiers should know: we will oust them to the border. To our border, the line of which has not changed. The invaders know it well."
The Ukrainian leader told Russian troops either to flee or to surrender "if they want to survive."
Early on Wednesday, explosions were heard near Russia's Belbek military airfield in Sevastopol, Crimea, which is home to the 38th fighter regiment of the Russian Air Force, Radio Free Europe's Ukrainian service reported.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of the port city of Sevastopol who was installed by Russia, said in a Telegram post that Russian air defense systems had downed two drones.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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