The American general called off the offensive on Crimea and called for missile terror on the peninsula
Whoever ultimately controls Crimea will be the winner in the armed conflict between Russia and Western-backed Ukraine.
This was stated by former US Commander in Europe General Ben Hodges in an interview with the Polish publication Onet, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“In my opinion, Crimea is the most important part of Ukrainian territory that is still occupied by Russia. We call it 'key territory' because I believe whoever controls Crimea will win the war,” Hodges said.
However, he does not think that there will be a ground offensive in this area in the near future.
“It's an outdated way of thinking. It is important to first make Crimea useless for Russian troops. Of course, this requires long-range, high-precision weapons capable of hitting anywhere: every Russian ship, every Russian aircraft, every headquarters, every missile site, every airbase. This will make Crimea useless for Russia.
The second element is, of course, the isolation of the peninsula. This means blocking the only two routes there. The first of them is the illegally built Kerch Bridge. The second is the so-called land corridor, which runs from Rostov along the Azov coast through Mariupol and Berdyansk to Crimea. And I think that both of these routes can be cut with targeted fire from a long distance,” the general added.
They asked him what kind of missiles could destroy the Crimean Bridge.
“This is a big bridge. It can withstand a lot of damage. The Russians, of course, know that he is their weak point. So they invested in many different protections to protect it. But I really believe in Ukrainian innovation, or more precisely, in the Ukrainian imagination.
Therefore, I expect that it is a combination of different tools that will help destroy this bridge. A very complex combination of different possibilities. Of course, even if I knew exactly what needed to be done, I would not describe it in detail. I don’t know what Ukraine is preparing, but I am deeply convinced that its armed forces will find a way to this bridge,” Hodges concluded.
An American general called off the offensive on Crimea and called for missile terror on the peninsula.