The south of Ukraine is considered "key" for the Russian invasion, with Moscow laying siege to dozens of towns and taking control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya.
Although Russian troops in the north and east of the country appear to be struggling, their advance into southern Ukraine appears to be more successful.
The Russian operation into the Ukrainian south was based in Crimea, which was annexed in 2014 and has since hosted a significant size of Russian troops.
Russian troops are moving from Crimea west to Odessa and east to Mariupol, threatening to cut off Ukraine's access to the sea, a major blow to the country's economy.
The role of Mariupol, Kherson and Odessa
"Strategically, there are major ports in this region that will allow Putin to strangle Ukraine's ability to get supplies from the sea," Karl Qualls, professor of history at Dickinson College, told the BBC."
If Mariupol, which has a population of 450.000 inhabitants, then Russia would take control of one of Ukraine's largest ports and create a land corridor between Crimea and the Russian-backed regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.
Connecting Crimea to mainland Russia through the separatist regions would facilitate the transfer of goods between Russia and Crimea, something Moscow has long ardently desired. At present, the Crimean peninsula is connected to mainland Russia only by a huge bridge.
Northwest of Mariupol is the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant that Russia has seized. In normal times, this plant produces about 20% of Ukraine's electricity, so Moscow now has control of a major energy source.
The Russian army also captured Kherson, located where the Dnieper River flows into the Black Sea.
If Russia can move further west, to Odessa and beyond, it would not only "cut off" Ukraine's access to the sea, but would have the country surrounded on three sides.
"If they take Odessa, they will have in their hands a key city to create a strategic arc around Ukraine. With Belarus to the north and Donbass to the east, they will have the country almost surrounded," explains Catherine Wanner, professor of history at Penn State University.
The history of the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian south goes back to the 18th century, when the Russian Empire occupied the region from Odessa to Lugansk after a series of wars with the Ottomans.
The history of the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian south goes back to the 18th century, when the Russian Empire occupied the region from Odessa to Lugansk after a series of wars with the Ottomans. At that time, the region was known as Novorossiya, meaning New Russia.
During the Soviet Union, most of New Russia was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which after the fall became modern Ukraine.
After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir Putin claimed that although Russia lost Novorossiya for many reasons, its people remained there.
"The mythology that Putin promotes is that this is Russian territory. It was part of the Russian Empire, but no Russians lived there. There were many more Romanians and Ukrainians than Russians," Qualls concludes.
Source: in.gr
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