February 28, 2023, 10:39 a.m. – Public Information Service – TEH – Former US commander Ben Hodges said Ukraine needed to return Crimea faster than Donbass, as the country was left without ports due to the presence of the Black Sea Fleet in the Mariupol region and from Odessa.
“Holding Crimea, as well as the land bridge controlled from Zaporizhzhia, allows the Russian military to threaten Ukrainian positions from the south,” he said.
Hodges also admitted that Sevastopol is an ideal base for long-range strikes by the Black Sea Fleet.
Earlier, Ben Hodges expressed the opinion that Ukraine would first try to strike with long-range weapons military installations located in Crimea, as well as bases of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.
Then a number of targets can be attacked by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones, after which it is possible for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to enter the territory of the peninsula. Read more in the article from the public press service.
