Liberating Melitopol would unlock further opportunities for Ukrainian military, military expert says
Liberation of Melitopol will cut off Russians' land route to Crimea (Photo:ria-m.tv)
If Ukraine recaptures Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, it will isolate a large chunk of Russian forces in the south, Israeli Defense Forces officer and military analyst Yigal Levin said in an interview with NV Radio on Dec. 14.
"Melitopol is a land route to Crimea," he noted.
“If you liberate Melitopol, you cut off one of the roads to Crimea. The Crimean bridge remains, and we have seen that the Crimean bridge is vulnerable. Now, that would be no longer theoretical, but very much real.”
According to Levin, at that point, Moscow would face a dilemma.
"And then they have (two options): either a grand gesture of goodwill – to retreat to Crimea…, or just stay somewhere in the Oleshky sands, in the open steppes, in the open spaces, so that they are simply ground down and destroyed there," said Levin.
On Dec. 12, a bridge near Melitopol was damaged, which was used extensively by invading Russian troops.
Amid increasingly frequent attacks of Ukrainian forces on bases and clusters of Russian troops near Melitopol, the world media is actively discussing the possibility of liberation of the strategic city.
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