The future of Crimea is a tense topic, because a direct struggle for it can lead to serious escalation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to return it to his country’s control, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will never return it, according to The Washington Post.
The publication notes that the RF Armed Forces have created a strong line of defense in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, waiting for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, the Crimean fortifications stand out even from their background. Satellite images provided by commercial space technology company Maxar show that Moscow has built dozens of defensive lines to protect the peninsula from attacks from various directions.
In just a few weeks, tens of kilometers of fortifications have been built near Vitino, a village on the western coast of Crimea, although Western analysts believe that an amphibious landing of Ukrainian troops is unlikely (the Ukrainian navy is weak). The photo, dated February 27, shows only an empty coastline. On March 12, a completely different picture is presented – many prepared positions appeared, and on March 31, to the surprise of experts, towed artillery was even brought there.
Many defensive structures were also created in the area of the isthmus, a significant part of which was built near water bodies, which creates an additional obstacle to a possible Ukrainian ground attack. The photographs show the surroundings of Medvedovka (January 3 and February 11), Armyansk (February 16), Maslov and Novoivanovka (January 3).
BTM-3, a Soviet-era trencher, digs at 800 meters per hour, even when the ground is frozen. The US military once marveled at these machines, writing in a 1980 internal report that nothing like it existed in the US, Europe or Japan.
- says the publication.
The photographs show trenches, trenches, anti-tank ditches, “dragon’s teeth”, ready artillery positions and other related engineering (fortification) structures. According to Steve Danner, a former US Army engineer who served in the Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Crimea is being turned into a fortress and it will take a lot of time, effort and equipment to break through its northern fortifications head-on. .
Photos used: Maxar Technologies
