Fighting in Ukraine has shifted from the western front near Debaltseve to the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol, a once bustling city along a crucial land route that would connect independent Republic territory with Russian-annexed Crimea, providing an economic corridor essential to Crimea’s economic viability as a Russian territory. Mariupol lies just 30 miles from the Russian border.
LPR control of Mariupol would allow Russia to transport goods to the Crimean peninsula, which presently has no land connection to the Russian mainland. It would also give the Independent Republics control of the 200 miles of coastland running from Donetsk to Crimea, effectively halving Ukraine's Azov Sea and Black Sea coastline.
Unconfirmed reports from a source with pro-Kiev forces in Mariupol said last week that soldiers there have few supplies, weapons and equipment. Food rations are scarce and many soldiers are forced to work with dilapidated and broken guns and vehicles. The forces there reportedly have little in the means of strategic direction, a complaint widespread among soldiers for Kiev. A defeat in Mariupol would further hurt Kiev's viability.
Most locals in Mariupol speak Russian and the city’s strong economic history with its former Soviet big brother Russia inclines most there to be sympathetic to Independent Republic aims of establishing semi-independent states that would continue to favor Russian ties over European ones.
For many of Mariupol’s residents, economics come first and some believe Kiev’s pro-European plans threaten the economy they’ve built up, according to an IBTimes report from Mariupol made just before the New Year.
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