Main points
- Russian troops are actively mining the Crimean coast, installing anti-tank and anti-personnel mines to prevent the landing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
- Military expert Roman Svitan believes that Crimea is a vulnerable point for the Kremlin due to the difficulties in organizing defense.
Russian troops massively mine the coast of Crimea / Collage of Channel 24
Russian units are mining the coast and adjacent territories in the Crimean De facto Territory. This is being done to strengthen defenses and complicate a potential landing of Ukrainian Defense Forces troops.
This was reported to Ukrinform by Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces.
What activities are the Russians currently conducting in Crimea?
Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian troops have stepped up defensive measures on the occupied peninsula. The main efforts of the enemy operational-tactical group “Crimea” are focused on preventing the landing of Ukrainian troops in Crimea.
According to our intelligence, in order to prevent the landing of the Ukrainian Defense Forces on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea, the Russian units present there, namely the operational-tactical group “Crimea”, are taking measures to install minefields along the coast of Crimea using anti-tank and anti-personnel mines,
– Voloshyn noted.
Currently, the spokesman says, the occupiers are trying to firmly fortify the coastline with dense minefields and engineering barriers. Enemy units are actively mining a significant part of the coast, laying thousands of mines.
“The beaches will now be minefields that will be covered with various wire fences, and these are not only the beaches, but also parts of the sea,” the military officer added.
According to him, such measures are aimed at preventing the landing of Ukrainian troops in Crimea.
Important! Reserve Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, pilot instructor and military expert Roman Svitan noted in a commentary on Channel 24 that Crimea is one of the Kremlin's three vulnerable points. According to him, the peninsula is a geographical operational cauldron in which it is very difficult to organize any defense system – especially in the event of an attack from the mainland of Ukraine.
What is the current situation on the front?
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The enemy continues to attack relentlessly on several sections of the front. On April 18 and 19, the occupation army attempted to storm east of Chasovye Yar in the Donetsk region.
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Another Russian offensive took place near Svyatopetrivka in Zaporizhia Oblast, as well as in the Kucheriv area in Kurshchyna.
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At the same time, experts from the Institute for the Study of War say that all of the enemy's offensive operations have been defeated.
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At the same time, ISW notes that the direction northwest of Hulyaipol is strategically important and potentially dangerous – the enemy troops have brought up their strategic reserves to this section of the front. And even despite this, no significant results have been recorded within the enemy's offensive campaign.