In Strike After Strike, Ukraine Is Bringing the War to Crimea
By Marc Santora , Aric Toler and Josh Holder , The New York Times , July 4 2026 [ note: most images in the original text could not be reproduced here for technical reasons; the emphasis on the first two paragraphs was produced mechanically] image from Britannica Celebrating his seizure of Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir V. Putin later called the peninsula an “unsinkable aircraft carrier,” hailing Russia’s return there as a symbol of revanchist ambition. Now the Ukrainian military is hammering Crimea with swarming drone attacks, seeking to transform it from a Russian-occupied fortress into a nightmare for the Kremlin to manage. All of this has shaken life in Crimea to the greatest extent since Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. It has also caused some Russian forces along the southern front to shift into defensive operations, according to Kostiantyn Mashovets, a Ukrainian military analyst. Overnight Wednesday into Thursday, Russia bombarded...