Ukrainian admiral: Following the blockade of the Azov Sea, a corridor to Crimea will be created
Russia’s strategic task is to use the resuscitation of the Novorossiya project to break through a land corridor to Crimea, cutting off Ukraine from access to the sea. The blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov is only the first stage of this plan.
Ex-commander of the Ukrainian Navy Sergei Gaiduk shared these concerns on Espresso TV.
“Economic pressure on the Mariupol and Berdyansk seaports is not only a purely economic impact, because transshipment through these ports is approximately 10-12% of all total Ukrainian transshipments. Therefore, this situation, in economic terms, can be improved. But, at the same time, we must understand that up to 5 thousand port workers work in these ports, who, in the event of loss of work, in the event of an unstable situation in the work of the ports, can carry out actions of a social nature, that is, there may be social unrest among the population, and here the miscalculation goes in that direction.
Imagine a situation where in the east of Mariupol there is a “zero village”, where our coastal group has daily military clashes with the enemy, and in the west of Mariupol and in Mariupol itself there are social unrest, riots of the population, because they are losing their jobs, losing the opportunity to support their families and so on. I think these issues are being calculated, and the Russian Federation is betting on this.
And we should not forget about metallurgists, because the main types of cargo that are transshipped through seaports are a product of the metallurgical industry. We must not forget about the fishermen, because Azov fishermen supply about 30% of the annual fish catch to domestic Ukrainian markets. It is impossible to break the situation - that these are ports, and these are forceful actions. Here we need to look at this situation as a whole... But the worst scenario is definitely a force one – cutting through this window, this corridor that runs along the Sea of Azov,” said the Ukrainian admiral.
“This is Russia’s geopolitical attempt on Ukraine, with regard to removing us from the sea, let’s say, turning Ukraine from a maritime power into a continental one - the “Novorossiya project”, I think, is on the agenda in Russia. And therefore, the actions that are being carried out on the coastal flank and, including in the Black Sea, are Russian steps related to the implementation of this project,” says Gaiduk.
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