Former Ukrainian Military Commander proposes to cut off the Crimean peninsula from land access
Anatoly Lopata, the Ukrainian former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and former First Deputy Defense Minister, stated that Ukraine should cut off the Crimean peninsula from land access, turning it into an island.
In an interview with Obozrevatel, Lopata stated that Russia currently “dominates the waters near the peninsula.”
“But we can approach this from an entirely different angle by cutting off the Crimean canal from the land, making the Crimea into an island,” Lopata stated. It is his opinion, if this happened, Kyiv would "have access to the sea and control over its territory, from Mariupol and further.”
According to Lopata, the man-made channel should be about 100m wide, and its depth should be enough for the passage of “any high-tonnage ships.”
The internationally recognized Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March of 2014 in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. The Kremlin has faced international condemnation for its annexation of the Peninsula, leading many western countries to impose economic sanctions against Russia. In the United Nations, only Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria recognize Crimea as a legitimate federal subject of Russia.