Crimea's recapture may come before de-occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions - military expert Zhdanov

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"Crimea is geographically located in such a way that if we start to recapture our territory, especially Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Crimea is a flank attack, that is, it opens an opportunity to launch a flank attack on our troops. Therefore, the issue of Crimea’s recapture may arise even earlier than the issue of de-occupation of Donbas, Luhansk and Donetsk regions," explained the military expert.

Oleh Zhdanov noted that looking at the holtilities map, one of Ukraine’s main tasks is to reach the Azov Sea coast in order to cut the Russian troops in half and cut the Crimean peninsula off.

"From the Azov coast, even with the means we have today, we can basically reach Kerch. Accordingly, we can block or destroy the remnants of the bridge and make it impossible for troops to cross the Kerch Strait. And then the issue of Crimea will be on the agenda first, not second," Zhdanov remarked.