Liberation of Crimea: US General Ben Hodges assesses current prospects

This year, there is no need to send ground units of the Ukrainian army to liberate Crimea, the Ukrainian Defense Forces should focus on destroying the logistics, infrastructure and military bases of the occupiers on the peninsula. It is reported by Kontrakty.UA.

This opinion was expressed on the air of "1 + 1" by the former commander of the US troops in Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

According to him, Russia should be deprived of the opportunity to use its naval and air bases in the occupied Crimea, in particular in Saki or Dzhankoy.

"You are already doing this, in fact, through the use of long-range precision weapons, which is a very important first step... Second, you need to isolate [the occupiers in Crimea]. You do this by destroying the railroad, which seems to be going from Rostov to Crimea, by destroying ferry crossings and the ships that the Russians use to transport goods and people across the sea," Ben Hodges emphasized.

Separately, the American general noted the need to destroy the Crimean bridge, noting that "General Budanov and his team probably already have several options" and "will be able to destroy this bridge when the time comes."

"Then, next year or whenever it is possible, Ukrainian soldiers will be able to enter Crimea and deoccupy it. But the main thing is to make sure that the Russians cannot use it," Ben Hodges summarized.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 08/07/2024