Putin's Crimea Is OVER

The Military Show

Crimea was once Putin’s prized conquest, but Ukraine is working to turn it into a strategic liability. Through relentless drone strikes, attacks on supply routes, and a campaign to isolate the peninsula by land and sea, Kyiv is steadily cutting Crimea off from Russia’s war machine. In this video, we break down Ukraine’s Logistics Lockdown strategy, the key role of mid-range drones, and why Crimea’s future as a Russian stronghold is increasingly in doubt.  00:00 - Strategy to Purge Russia from Crimea 00:45 - The Logistics Lockdown Program 05:02 - Enter Mid-Range Drone Strikes 07:25 - Destroying Russia's Supply Bridges 11:32 - Inside Crimea's Fuel & Food Crisis 14:49 - Turning Crimea into a Liability  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/Ldv29HGT

Transcript

00:00Putin's Crimea is over. It was nice while it lasted, right Vladimir? After you illegally

00:06annexed the Crimean Peninsula, snatching it away from Ukraine in the process,

00:10you thought you were set. You had your little crown jewel and in your mind had reinforced

00:15your spurious claim to Ukraine. But after a lengthy war that was supposed to be a quick

00:19invasion, it's all come crashing down. Crimea isn't the crown jewel anymore. Ukraine is cutting

00:25off the entire peninsula and it's gearing up to purge Russia from Crimea forever. The strategy

00:32is simple. Isolate, make useless and then destroy. Middle range strikes are the key to everything

00:40and we're going to explain how and why Ukraine is doing what it's doing in Crimea. Let's start with

00:46why. On May 27th, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense announced that it was officially launching its

00:51logistics lockdown program. Around $113 million is going to be dedicated to that program with the

00:58money being funneled, at least in the first phase, directly to units that are carrying out middle

01:03range strikes against Russian logistics all over Ukraine. In Crimea, alarm bells would have been

01:08ringing in the offices of the puppet government that Putin has set up on the peninsula. Though late

01:13May made Ukraine's intent clear, those officials knew that Crimea and the surrounding territories

01:18had been experiencing expanding strikes against everything from logistics to military targets

01:23inside Crimea. For them, logistics lockdown wasn't a new problem. It was the continuation and expansion

01:30of a campaign that was already causing major issues. The idea behind logistics lockdown is relatively

01:36simple. Wherever Russia channels its trucks and tankers is where Ukraine will hit and those strikes will

01:42last all through summer and beyond. This is about initiative for Ukraine. As its drones crashed

01:48down in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, frontline troops in those regions all feel the pain

01:54of lost supplies and inadequate reserves. But nowhere feels what's happening more than Crimea, which relies

02:01on logistical arteries running all through occupied Ukraine to remain supplied and continue to function

02:06as a viable military threat against Ukraine. Isolating Crimea is Ukraine's ultimate goal. By doing that,

02:13Ukraine makes the entire peninsula useless to Putin and his invasion ambitions. For this isolation to

02:19happen, Ukraine has to be smart with its strikes. Sending drones into regions where Russia has amassed

02:24air defenses is a recipe for most of those drones being destroyed in the air. Ukraine doesn't want that.

02:30It needs as high a success rate as possible to make the logistics lockdown program work.

02:35What we've been seeing over the past few weeks is Ukraine's drones actively avoiding the densest Russian

02:41air defenses, which are set up on the front lines and instead striking deep behind those defenses.

02:46Instead, Ukraine's drones are on the hunt for military convoys and fuel trucks of all types,

02:51whether they're traveling to or from Crimea. That means nearly all of occupied Ukraine is fair game

02:57for Ukraine's strikes, given Crimea's status as a logistical node through which Russia channels troops

03:03and supplies from the mainland to Ukraine. You're starting to see a little of the how come into play here

03:09when it comes to isolating Crimea. But Ukraine is under no illusions about what all of this would

03:14mean for its summer campaign. Cutting the peninsula off from the rest of occupied Ukraine is a massive

03:19undertaking. Russia has been taking advantage of that fact from the very beginning of its invasion.

03:24Crimea has been and still is a launch pad for Russia's offensive operations due to its role as a

03:29logistical node. It's home to military airfields, ammunition storage facilities, launch pads for missiles

03:36and drones and entire arsenals that are stocked up and fed into occupied Ukraine. From Crimea,

03:42Russia is able to deploy submarines and warships. At least it was. Ukraine's campaign against Russia's

03:47Black Sea Fleet, which has seen a third of that fleet get destroyed and the rest leave its main base

03:52in Sevastopol, has put a dent into that. But what we're seeing is reason after reason why Ukraine needs

03:57to isolate Crimea. It's too valuable to ignore from a strategic standpoint. Putin's military buildup on the

04:03peninsula stands as a symbol of the dominance over Ukraine that Russia's leader wants to convince

04:08the world that he holds. Massive though the undertaking may be, it was also needed. Crimea

04:13has been key to Putin's plans from the moment he invaded. In the months prior to February 2022,

04:19Russia amassed troops and weapons on the peninsula. It's those soldiers that were able to seize large

04:24parts of southern Ukraine within the first few days of the so-called special military operation,

04:28setting the stage for the grinding and brutal war that has followed. Even before that,

04:34peninsula was being used as a symbol of Russian strength. Ukraina reports that 2019 saw Ukraine's

04:40Ministry of Foreign Affairs reveal that Russia had amassed 12 multiple launch rocket systems,

04:4540 tanks, 62 helicopters, 122 combat aircraft, 162 heavy artillery units, and 583 armored vehicles in

04:55Crimea. The buildup happened over years and established Crimea as key to everything that

05:00Russia is doing now. So isolation of the peninsula isn't a nice to have for Ukraine. It's about

05:05snatching away the key to Russia's entire war strategy. You've heard enough about the why by this

05:11point. With the logistics lockdown program already in place, you'll also have an inkling about the how.

05:16Let's dig deeper. The emergence of a new generation of middle strike drones has changed

05:21everything about how Ukraine approaches Crimea. These drones are capable of engaging Russian

05:26targets at operational depth which usually falls somewhere between 20 and 200 kilometers behind

05:32the front lines. This is where Russian logistics are found along with command posts, troop gatherings,

05:38scattered air defenses, and supply stations. It's from this region that everything that happens on the

05:43front is organized and it's by striking the logistical arteries in this range that Ukraine is able

05:48to disrupt frontline operations and isolate Crimea all at once. For three consecutive months up to May,

05:55we've seen Ukraine lean more heavily into its middle strike strategy. In May, Ukraine carried out

06:00about 50% more strikes against mid-range targets than it did in April, and that increase came on the

06:05back

06:05of Ukraine having already doubled its mid-range strikes between March and April, and quadrupled them

06:11when comparing April's numbers to February. Ukraine keeps on building. By the end of June,

06:16it's looking likely that we'll be reporting on another increase. The main target of these strikes

06:21is what we've already mentioned. Anything that moves on the roads that Russia uses to shuttle supplies

06:26to and from Crimea. That means fuel tankers, supply trucks, and military convoys carrying troops.

06:33It's all on the docket for Ukraine as it looks to turn the roads that Russia uses for supporting Crimea

06:37into literal hellscapes of burned-out vehicles. And now, anywhere you look on these roads, you see the impact

06:44of Ukraine's strikes. The R280 Highway, which links Rostov-on-Don in Russia to the southern

06:50Ukrainian regions of Mariupol and Melitopol, along with Crimea, has become a highway to hell for any

06:56Russian vehicles that attempt to travel across it. That road is vital to keeping occupied Crimea alive.

07:02It's become the main route used by Russia into the peninsula ever since multiple Ukrainian strikes

07:07against the Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea revealed that route to be far too exposed.

07:12The Guardian reports that Ukraine's 412th Nemesis Brigade has been a frontrunner in turning that

07:18stretch of road into a hellscape as it has taken out dozens of trucks and tankers along the R280

07:23since May. Of course, cutting off one road isn't enough to isolate Crimea. What happened after the

07:30R280 was made incredibly dangerous caught Russia completely off-guard. With its middle-strike drones

07:36having established dominance over the R280, Ukraine went on to hunt elsewhere. Logistical nodes in the

07:41Kherson region, which also linked occupied Ukraine to Crimea, became the next target. In early June,

07:47the Chonar Bridge in Kherson was hit repeatedly, forcing Russia to divert traffic and erect makeshift

07:52pontoon crossings that can't handle the sheer volume of traffic needed to keep supplies flowing

07:58in and out of Crimea. On June 13th, the Kyiv Post reported that Ukraine had also hit the

08:02Hennichesk Bridge, taking out another logistical artery for Crimea, along with the Armyansk Bridge,

08:09through which Russia had tried to divert traffic that could no longer take the Chonar Bridge.

08:13And to add to the pain, Ukraine also hit a railway in Kherson on the same day, demonstrating to Russia

08:18that it can't even rely on the rails to keep supplies flowing into Crimea.

08:22What we're seeing here is genius by Ukraine. First, it severed the jugular by making the R280 one of

08:27the riskiest roads to travel in all of occupied Crimea. That road is still a target, and will

08:33remain so for as long as Russia uses it. With the jugular spilling out blood in the form of destroyed

08:38vehicles and burning fuel, the Ukrainian knife heads to every other vein and artery that keep the

08:43Crimean head alive. One by one, middle-strike drones are cutting those veins and arteries,

08:48and that leaves Crimea, decapitated and isolated. The numbers are telling the story of Ukraine's

08:55campaign, and there's more that Ukraine is doing to isolate Crimea. But before we get into all of

09:00that, this is a quick reminder that you are watching the military show. If you're getting

09:04insight from the channel, make sure to hit subscribe so you see more of our videos.

09:09Let's come back to the R280 for a moment. The Kyiv Post reveals that satellite imagery shows the

09:14outcome of Ukraine's campaign against the road. There are now more than 300 new Russian truck

09:20hulls scattered along the highway, all burned out or utterly demolished by Ukrainian drone strikes

09:25during the first half of June alone. There were many more besides that, which Ukraine hit in May,

09:31and from June 7th to 13th, Ukraine's special operations forces linked up with the 475th Code 9.2

09:38and first Da Vinci units to carry out more than 100 strikes and sorties against the land corridor

09:44bottlenecks that lie in the north of Crimea, the outlet says. New behemoth drones are being joined

09:49by old favorites, including the Liuchi and FP-1, to do the damage. There is even word of a top

09:55-secret

09:55drone named the Morrigan that is destroying air defense systems and support targets in and around

10:00Crimea to clear a path for Ukraine's other drones. What Ukraine is doing here is making the roads in and

10:06out of Crimea impassable. And when trucks can't drive along those roads, Russia starts running

10:11out of options to keep the peninsula supplied. Elsewhere, we are also seeing Ukrainian maritime

10:16drones continue the naval campaign that has already seen Ukraine turn the Black Sea into a non-factor

10:21for Russia, despite the fact that Ukraine barely has a navy to call its own. United24 media reports

10:28that Ukraine's arsenal of naval drones is preventing the free passage of vessels around Crimea,

10:32which amounts to another supply line being cut off. Those drones are more dangerous than they were

10:38even when they were devastating the Black Sea fleet. Now they have become full-fledged platforms,

10:42the outlet says. Some are used to carry out direct kamikaze strikes while loaded with hundreds of

10:47kilograms of explosives. Others are seaborne launch pads for Ukraine's aerial drones, which can

10:53launch from the maritime drones to attack aerial targets and conduct strikes against ships.

10:58Ukraine's naval focus has also expanded to the Sea of Azov, which links directly to Crimea's eastern

11:04coast. On June 5th, the BBC reported that Ukraine had confirmed strikes against five ships in the Sea of

11:10Azov and the coastal waters around the occupied territories. All of these ships were involved in

11:16stealing Ukrainian grain, along with transferring fuel and military cargo, Ukraine claims.

11:21So it's clear that the logistics lockdown program doesn't just focus on roads. The food, fuel and

11:28supplies that are sailing into Crimea are also being taken out. If Putin is laboring under the

11:33false hope that Ukraine might slow down and that Crimea still has a chance of not being completely

11:38isolated, then he has to let go of that hope quickly. Ukraine isn't going to slow down, it's just

11:43getting started. Let's look at the Crimean Peninsula, Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmitry Pletinchuk said

11:49during a June 14th interview with Ukraine's Freedom TV station. It's surrounded by water on three

11:54sides and accordingly, the history of previous wars fought on this territory should suggest to those

11:59who occupied it that they all ended up roughly the same way and always not very well with retreat,

12:04Pletinchuk warns. And that's the entire point. By isolating Crimea both by land and sea, Ukraine

12:10makes maintaining the peninsula untenable. Putin himself said in March that Russia has spent around

12:15$15.5 billion on Crimea since occupying the peninsula and that's starting to look like a

12:21lot of money that has been poured down the drain. Spending even more, which is desperately needed

12:26as Ukraine whittles away at Crimea, is a tough call for Putin to make. He'll have to make it if

12:30he

12:31wants to hold on to the peninsula. But all that will end up meaning is more money wasted on Crimea

12:35when Russia is already dealing with a looming recession and war spending that the new voice of

12:40Ukraine says is so high that it alone could exceed Russia's entire 2026 budget by $28 billion.

12:48Pletinchuk says that hard work carried out over months is starting to pay off for Ukraine.

12:52What we're seeing now isn't the result of a single day of work. It's a systematic effort that's been

12:57underway for a long time and we can actually say we're seeing the fruits of that work now, he told

13:02Freedom. Now Crimea isn't the symbol of Russian dominance that Putin held it up to be for so long.

13:07It certainly isn't the fulcrum on which the lever of the Russian war pivots.

13:12Crimea has been turned into an isolated peninsula surrounded by war. And it's the Russian people,

13:18both in Crimea and fighting on the front lines, that are feeling the pain.

13:22The most obvious impact of Ukraine's efforts to isolate Crimea is seen in the rampant fuel

13:27shortages that have engulfed the peninsula. By early June, puppet authorities in Crimea had already

13:33enforced fuel restrictions. Ration coupons were issued and officials were stationed at gas stations

13:39to ensure that nobody attempted to take more than their already meagre share. Fuel was being sold at

13:44a limit of 20 to 30 litres per person. And that would come with the caveat that all civilian vehicles

13:50come second to Russian military vehicles and public utilities such as police cars and ambulances.

13:55The rationing hasn't worked. By June 12th, the Independent was reporting that gas stations in Crimea

14:01have been running out of fuel, resulting in massive queues and the worst fuel crisis the peninsula has

14:07experienced since Russia illegally occupied the territory. Compounding the problem is a looming

14:12food shortage. RBC Ukraine reports that empty shelves at supermarkets are becoming a common site.

14:18Basics such as cereals, sugar, flour, and pasta are in very short supply. And the combination of

14:24Ukraine's logistical strikes and Russia's maintaining a heavy military presence in Crimea is only making the

14:30situation worse. None of this is accidental. Ukraine is starving Crimea of fuel and food.

14:37In addition to isolating Crimea as a strategic asset, Ukraine is ensuring that the Russian

14:42occupiers living on the peninsula know that the reason they are dealing with these issues is Putin

14:47and his invasion. Militarily, Crimea is now less useful to Russia than it has been since the illegal

14:52annexation in 2014. What was supposed to be one of Russia's greatest assets and proved to be so during

14:59the early months and years of Putin's invasion, is now a major source of weakness. Frontline soldiers

15:05in the occupied territories who were relying on supplies and support to arrive from Crimea

15:09are now being forced into assaults before anything arrives to help them. The result is inevitable.

15:15Weaker attacks and more deaths on the front. We're seeing this most directly in Kherson and Zaporizhia,

15:21United24 media reports, as Crimea has long served as a launch pad for assaults in those regions.

15:26Now, pressure is being relieved on Ukraine's defenses and openings are appearing across the front.

15:33Ukraine has already been engaged in a targeted counter-attacking strategy in 2026 that Reuters

15:38reports has seen it reclaim over 600 square kilometers of territory from Russia by June 8.

15:44More counters may follow as Crimea becomes less of a factor, which in turn brings Ukrainian forces

15:50closer to the peninsula and enables even more attacks against Crimean logistics. One feeds into the

15:56other and Russia starves. Speaking of launch pads, Ukraine is also making it far riskier for Russia

16:02to use Crimea as a launching point for the missiles and drones that it's firing into Ukraine. Crimea isn't

16:08useless in this regard yet. A Russian attack against Ukraine on the night of June 14 into 15 proved that,

16:14as Russia was able to launch six 3M22 Zircon anti-ship missiles from the peninsula along with a portion of

16:21the 611 strike drones sent into Ukraine during the attack. But with air defense systems being taken

16:27down and resources being poured into trying to prevent Ukraine's logistical strikes, it's becoming

16:32riskier for Russia to conduct launches from Crimean territory. Every missile and drone base is now a target.

16:39And with its logistics being cut off, Russia also has a harder time resupplying those bases and carrying out repairs

16:45following Ukraine's strikes. Bit by bit, Putin's hold on Crimea is being loosened. Pletinchuk explains, stating,

16:52at some point a critical mass of defeats accumulates, ultimately leading to the collapse of the system

16:57itself. In other words, Crimea is being transformed from an asset into a severe liability. Money poured into

17:04the peninsula is being wasted. Supplies moving to and from Crimea become targets, which amounts to yet more

17:10money being wasted as pain is brought to the most important occupied territory that Russia holds.

17:16And all the while, the social pressure builds on Putin and his cronies. Crimea's puppet regime is

17:22meant to be crowing about the latest Russian victories. Instead, it's being forced to admit

17:26that Ukraine is launching successful strikes almost every day, and there can be no ignoring the fires

17:31or the constant flow of emergency services to the sites that Ukraine strikes in Crimea and the surrounding

17:37territories. As for Ukraine, it will keep on doing what it's doing. Though a ground invasion to retake

17:42Crimea seems unlikely, isolating the peninsula makes it useless to Russia. That could force Putin to the

17:48negotiating table, and it gives Ukraine valuable leverage in peace discussions. If Putin refuses,

17:54then he loses Crimea. Liberation will not come from the march of Ukrainian soldiers, but by the withdrawal

18:00of Russia from a peninsula that is quickly becoming a lethal place to live. It's all thanks to Ukraine's

18:06strategy. And if you want to get a taste of what Ukraine has been doing against Russia and Crimea,

18:11then we have the perfect video for you. Do you remember the Armyansk crossing that we mentioned

18:15earlier? Ukraine is proving why it's such a bad idea for Russia to use that crossing to keep traffic

18:21flowing into Crimea. A fleet of Russian vehicles drove onto that bridge. Two minutes later, they were

18:26gone. You can find out what happened if you watch our video. And if you enjoyed this video,

18:30remember to subscribe to The Military Show to catch more of our analysis of Ukraine's Crimea campaign.

18:36And thank you as always for watching.

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