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Russia is reportedly preparing for a Ukrainian attack on Crimea.
Troops have dug embankments along strategic beaches and made preparations for a possible evacuation, Ukraine said.
Putin has ordered strengthened defenses across the peninsula.
As intense fighting rages over control of eastern Ukraine, Russia reportedly fears an attack on Crimea.
Ukrainian spy chief Kyrylo Budanov recently said in an interview that the country will not surrender until it retakes all the territories that Russia conquered, including the strategically important peninsula of Crimea, which Putin annexed back in 2014.
– Our goal, and we will achieve it, is to restore the border as it looked in 1991, he said to ABC News.
Planning evacuation
In an interview with Ukrainian television, Eskender Bariiev, of the human rights organization Crimean Tatar Resource Center, states that Russian officials are going door-to-door in Crimea and surveying households.
Among other things, they have investigated which households include children and the elderly.
– Russian troops seem to be preparing a forced evacuation of Crimea, says Bariiev.
This information comes at the same time that Ukrainian intelligence services say there are signs of Russian military fortifications across Crimea, writes Newsweek.
Among other things, Russian troops are said to have dug embankments along beaches where it is suspected that Ukraine could carry out a landing during an amphibious operation.
Strengthens fortifications
– The intelligence service constantly monitors all military activities in occupied Crimea. They are preparing for defensive measures on the peninsula, says Vadym Skibitskyi, from the military intelligence service, on Ukrainian television according to Newsweek.
– They are ready for battle.
He states that Russia has placed about 90 warplanes in Crimea.
The Institute for the Study of War also stated in its daily analysis earlier this week that Russia continues to strengthen its defense fortifications in southern Ukraine along the Crimean border.
“Satellite images show that in recent months Russian troops have increased the number of barriers and defenses along roads in Kherson that lead into occupied Crimea,” it writes.
The information on Russian defense measures comes at the same time as Ukraine believes that the country’s allies in the West are beginning to be more positive about an offensive against Crimea.
Multiple attacks
– We have heard from leaders in the West that it would lead to an inevitable escalation of the war, possibly even a nuclear conflict, if we retook Crimea. The rhetoric has changed since we explained more and more what Crimea is, what it means to Russia and how things are connected to Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, responsible for Crimea issues in Ukraine, told the Daily Beast.
Attacks on Crimea last autumn caused Russian tourists to flee in panic back to their homeland. In early March this year, Russia stopped a “massive drone attack” against targets in Crimea, the Russian military said.
– Crimea is Ukrainian territory. We can use whatever weapons we want on our territory, says spy chief Kyrylo Budanov.
The most high-profile attack in Crimea since the start of the war occurred on October 8, when parts of the Crimean Bridge, which connects the peninsula to the Russian mainland, were blown up.
Weapons training in classrooms
Sergei Aksyonov, who leads the Russian-controlled regime of Crimea, tells the Russian news agency Tass that under “no circumstances” Kiev will succeed in retaking the peninsula.
He says that President Putin has ordered the strengthening of defenses in Crimea and that work is now underway on this across the peninsula.
On Wednesday, Russian state television showed images of schoolchildren in Crimea receiving weapons training in classrooms. In one video, the children compete in taking apart and reassembling rifles.