Ukraine
Ukraine: The Strategic Importance of Mariupol
This ruined city is apparently the key to the remnants of Putin’s plans, but why? Is the Kerch Bridge a bridge too far?
Mariupol is a key city in southeastern Ukraine that has great strategic importance to Russian President Putin. The city sits on the edge of the Sea of Azov, which leads to the River Don, a key waterway for Russia.
Since the initial outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Mariupol has been a key target for pro-Russian separatists. And now it is under siege by mainstream Russian armed forces.
The strategic importance of Mariupol to Putin and Russia was evident during negotiations over a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine in September 2014. Putin insisted that the ceasefire include a provision for Ukrainian forces to withdrawal from Mariupol, but this was ultimately not included in the final agreement.
The city has been a key stronghold for Ukrainian forces in the war and its continued control by Kyiv is essential to preventing a total Russian takeover of southeastern Ukraine.
And we’ve seen what’s happened since with a siege akin to that of Stalingrad in 1941. This drone footage has Reuters sourcing, apparently, visible top right hand corner:
These areas may be broadly Russian-speaking, but they are no longer pro-Russian. “Mariupol was one of the most pro-Russian cities in Ukraine and to level it is beyond my comprehension,” says defence specialist Konrad Muzyka, head of Rochan Consulting (source: BBC).
Yes, it makes no sense to me either.
And maybe I’m missing something, but when I look at the map of the region I can see that Mariupol controls the Sea of Azov and access to the important River Don (just off the map to the right, the fifth longest river in Europe), but there is already a bridge to the Crimea from Russia:
Here’s the story of the bridge:
However, experts say that Putin is trying to create a land bridge through to the Crimea:
Nato also expects Russian forces to try to create a land bridge, running along the south coast west of Donetsk to Crimea. — BBC
In November 2018 Russian blocked the straits leading to the Sea of Azov by positioning a tanker under the Kerch bridge, then fired on and captured three Ukrainian naval vessels. I can only surmise that the bridge is considered highly vulnerable to attack and destruction, whereas a land ‘bridge’ would obviously be a different proposition. And when you look at the picture you can see exactly how vulnerable.
The bridge (also known as the Crimean Bridge) connects Krasnodar Krai in the east with the Kerch Peninsular of Crimea. The bridge complex provides for both road and rail traffic (actually two parallel bridges), and has a length of 19 km (11.8 miles). That length makes it the longest bridge Russia has ever built, and the longest bridge in Europe. And the length makes it easy to put out of action.
There had been many plans over the years for a bridge, but after Putin annexed the Crimea in 2014 construction started. It was built relatively quickly in 4 years by the company run by Arkady Rotenburg, a crony of Putin’s. Maybe Putin thinks the concrete is suspect. He is probably concerned about many of his cronies now, having lost them their fortunes.
Yes, a land bridge is a different proposition — as Putin is now discovering.
And I’m wondering why Ukraine hasn’t yet tried to poke a stick in Putin’s eye by putting a few missiles into the bridge. 19 km is a juicy target, but high precision would be required.
War rarely makes sense, and Putin’s strategy less so. But then, I’m no expert at it, just a sad and interested bystander.
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