Since the second half of 2025, the number of Defence Forces strikes on targets in Crimea has nearly doubled, and by spring and early June 2026 the bridges, isthmus, and railways connecting the peninsula to the mainland had become systematic targets. A new analytical note by the Crimea Platform Expert Network’s expert places these developments in a broader context — as the ongoing implementation of a strategy for liberating Crimea that has been underway since 2022.
The author is Stepan Yakymiak — Captain (Navy), ret., veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, PhD (Military Sciences), expert of the Centre for Defence Strategies and of the Crimea Platform Expert Network.
The note traces how the goal of liberating Crimea has evolved since Russia occupied the peninsula in 2014 — in Ukraine’s strategic documents, in the positions of international partners, and in the actions of the Defence Forces of Ukraine. It also examines the challenges ahead — from insufficient conventional capabilities for amphibious operations to the risk of losing Ukraine’s technological edge — and argues for developing a theory of robotic operations, with a robotic joint air-land-maritime operation as the way to liberate Crimea under personnel constraints. A key conclusion: the liberation of Crimea from its temporary occupation by the Russian Federation and its return to Ukraine is a mandatory prerequisite for any negotiations on ceasing and ending the war.
Read the full analytical note at the link.