Quote:
Originally Posted by Vespers War
Russia has been using those sites to launch missiles at civilian targets within Ukraine, both converted SAMs and hypersonics carried by aircraft flying from Crimean airbases. Knocking those out would reduce Russia's ability to target Odessa in particular, allowing more grain to be exported.
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It also forces Russia to shift more AA equipment away from other parts of the front, as Russia can't afford to leave Crimea defenseless against air attacks.
Ultimately, if Russia loses the Kerch bridge, it puts most of the southern part of Ukraine at risk of becoming out of supply. To be clear, I don't see Ukraine pushing into Crimea with ground forces (ever, as historically that never seems to work out well for attackers), but if the Kerch bridge goes down and Ukraine takes control of the isthmus or close to the isthmus, they may not need to. I imagine this may also partially explain Ukrainian attacks on Russian landing ships in the Black Sea. Crimea becoming unlivable for Russians would put extreme political pressure on Putin domestically.