Ukraine has isolated Crimea from Russia with its relentless drone campaign. According to the Kyiv Post, Russian supply lines to the peninsula have been cut off, and Moscow has been forced to relocate its Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol to the Russian mainland coast – an extraordinary admission of failure. Since 2022, half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been sunk, and residents of Crimea are fleeing food and fuel shortages.
Putin’s sacred myth crumbles
Crimea is the heart of Putin’s narrative about Russia’s imperial destiny. He annexed the peninsula in 2014 after a sham vote in which 97 percent of Crimeans supposedly voted for Russia. The conquest boosted Putin’s popularity in Russia, but the world knew it was a farce. On June 17, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov dramatically declared that the battle to retake Crimea was succeeding and intensifying: ‘For the Russians, hell begins. Logistics are disrupted. Crimea is being isolated by drones.’
Flight from the fortress
Many Crimeans no longer have access to food, fuel, or electricity and are fleeing in droves. It is no coincidence that while Ukraine encircles Crimea and bombs Russian cities, the peninsula is geographically a southern extension of Ukraine, connected to the mainland only by the narrow Isthmus of Perekop – it has no land link to Russia.
The fleet on the run
On June 14, Moscow announced that the Sevastopol naval base would be moved to Novorossiysk on the Russian coast – an admission of defeat. Putin often described the port as historic, built in 1783 by Prince Grigory Potemkin on the orders of Empress Catherine the Great. Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, however, the fleet has been steadily attacked. Ukraine sank half of Putin’s Black Sea Fleet despite having no navy of its own – it struck with drones and jet skis converted into remote-controlled torpedoes. Local partisans on Crimea also attacked the base and its personnel.
The Institute for the Study of War in Washington recently confirmed: ‘The Russian military command plans to relocate the remaining command structures of the Black Sea Fleet from occupied Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, as headquarters are becoming increasingly non-functional due to severe logistics problems caused by the intensified Ukrainian strike campaign against Crimea.’ Fedorov said Ukraine had tripled its drone strikes on the peninsula in the first four months of 2026: ‘We are simultaneously funding drone units that can deploy and procure them quickly. So hell begins for the Russians, and it is very hard for them to deal with. And we have this window of opportunity. Crimea is being isolated.’
Source: www.kyivpost.com
