While Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield have been mixed, its operations in Crimea and the Black Sea have been rather more successful.
It is ten years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea on March 18 2014. Subsequent efforts to firmly integrate the peninsula into the Russian Federation, however, have been far from the success story that the Kremlin often likes to portray.
Not only that, but repeated missile and drone attacks on Russian installations in Crimea and partisan activity in Crimea have further heightened the sense of Russian vulnerability. These attacks also have a significant symbolic value for Ukraine and its allies. While the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive on the mainland failed to deliver on expectations, Kyiv’s deft deployment of air and sea drones and of longer-range missiles ensured a remarkable change of fortunes in the Black Sea. This was underlined recently when the Kremlin removed its second commander of the Black Sea Fleet since the invasion of Ukraine.
This now carries key Ukrainian agricultural exports to global markets at levels exceeding those during the period when the grain deal was actually in operation. This contrasts sharply with a move by lawmakers in the Duma, Russia’s parliament. Members introduced a draft bill on March 11 that seeks to annul the transfer of Crimea from Russia to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev in 1954.
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