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Water shortages in temporarily occupied Crimea have become a problem for Russia, which has deployed nearly 30,000 troops to the peninsula. At the same time, the construction of the Kerch Bridge blocked the Sea of Azov.
This was announced in an interview with Radio Liberty by Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of the US ground forces in Europe.
“When you have 30,000 Russian soldiers and sailors, you know, then the lack of water affects their ability to conduct operations beyond Crimea. And I think the Kremlin needed Crimea, so they used force openly,” he said.
The US official emphasized that Russia tries to disguise stolen peninsula.
“Now there are almost 30 thousand soldiers on the peninsula, the navy, the air force, the submarines of the Black Sea Fleet, the Iskander missile systems. Therefore, they made it clear that the Kremlin is not interested in getting all this out of Crimea, “he said. …
Hodges emphasized that he built The Kerch Bridge became a loop in the “neck” of Mariupol and Ukraine… By building this bridge, Russia blocked the Sea of Azov.
“I mean the fact that the bridge was erected not only for convenient logistics and transportation, no, it is a gateway to the Sea of Azov. When I saw the bridge built, I realized that it was a loop in Mariupol, a loop around the neck of Ukraine in the Sea of Azov “summed up.
As OBOZREVATEL reported:
