Over the past few weeks there have been a growing number of reports that Russia is recruiting workers and – according to some sources, using forced labour – to dig trenches and build fortifications in Crimea across areas they would be forced to defend were Ukraine to make the peninsula a major objective of its spring offensive.
Activity is mainly focused on the areas around the Isthmus of Perekop, a roughly 19-mile long stretch of land which connects Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland. Its strategic importance is obvious when you think there have been fortifications dug there on and off for 2,000 years.
Russia has been beefing up its defensive positions there since it first occupied the peninsula in 2014, but with talk now that Ukraine is planning to imminently launch a major push, work has apparently redoubled. In case of an attempted amphibious assault, fortification of Crimea’s beaches has also been underway for some months.
