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Attack in Crimea 'really fits into Ukrainian strategy'

A dozen explosions at the Saki base near Novofedorivka occurred on August 9 near resorts on the western coast of Crimea.

PA

Text by: Romain Lemaresquier Follow

3 mins

Explosions left one dead and injured on Tuesday, August 9, at an ammunition depot on the site of a military airfield on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. If the Russian army says no Ukrainian shooting or bombing was not the cause of these explosions, which is confirmed by kyiv, speculation is rife.

Interview with the former head of the French mission to the United Nations, General Dominique Trinquand.

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RFI: Can an accident cause such damage?

Dominique Trinquand

: An accident can naturally cause such damage.

However, this is really part of the Ukrainian strategy which is to strike in depth all the logistical elements of Russia, and in particular the ammunition depots, the fuel depots, and therefore in Crimea, it fits perfectly into this logic. .

It should also be remembered that when there are strikes on Russian territory, and for Russia, Crimea is considered Russian territory, the Ukrainians never claim these attacks.

Then, it is a question of knowing with what means this attack took place, but that is another subject.

Why does Ukraine not claim this kind of attack?

Is it because it could represent a risk of aggravating the conflict?

Indeed, it never claims these attacks on Russian soil.

It should be remembered that the first attack which took place in Belgorod had taken place during a raid by Ukrainian helicopters which had been perfectly identified.

And despite this, the Ukrainians have never claimed responsibility for this attack.

So they hit.

The Ukrainians know what they are doing, the Russians know what the Ukrainians are doing, but no one admits it in passing.

For Russia, this would be admitting an element of weakness in its protection, as was the case not so long ago during the Navy Day when a Ukrainian drone hit a navy building Russian in Sevastopol.

What are the stakes around this Crimean peninsula in this conflict, both on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side?

Crimea is central to Russian strategy for two reasons.

The first is a historical reason, it is the claim of Crimea belonging to Russia.

The second is that during the Russian offensive from February 24, the Russian troops who debouched from the Crimea were extremely quick to seize Kherson and the area around the Sea of ​​Azov as far as Mariupol which, she, on the other hand, took quite a long time to fall.

And so today, there is a Russian desire to annex all this territory which goes from Donbass to Kherson by relying on Crimea.

Today, we can clearly see this in Russia's desire to reconnect

the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant

to Crimea to supply all of southern Ukraine with electricity.

Crimea is therefore an extremely important element.

The last point that can be emphasized is that naturally, historically too, the port of Sevastopol is the great Russian port which allows it to criss-cross the Black Sea.

►Also read

: Ukraine: in Kramatorsk, the military situation is still difficult for Kiev

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