In recent weeks we have often described Mariupol as a strategically important port city under constant Russian fire, but we haven’t talked much about why. A Russian official has now made clear his plans to link Crimea to the Russian-occupied southeastern Donbass region, which could happen if the military took Mariupol.
Kirill Stepanov, Chancellor of the Southern Russian Federal District, was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying that
Control of the highway between Crimea and Mariupol will reliably connect the peninsula with the Donbass via a transport corridor.
He added that this corridor and the land bridge of Crimea will form a transit area connecting the Caucasus region, seaports on the northern shores of the Black Sea and industrial centers in the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Russian forces have been firing on the city for weeks without interruption.
As a result, more than 80 per cent of homes were damaged. This week’s Human Rights Watch report cited residents who described the city as an earthly hell.
(BBC)
