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UKRAINE ... CRIMEA THE RUSSIAN AGENDA! The Military Show: TRUE Reason Why Russia OCCUPIED Crimea Finally REVEALED PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCsUZo7getQ
TRUE Reason Why Russia OCCUPIED Crimea Finally REVEALED The Military Show 1.84M subscribers Sep 4, 2025 #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 followed Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity and the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych. Within weeks, Russian Special Forces seized key sites across the peninsula, installed a pro-Moscow government, and staged a disputed referendum. The Kremlin then rapidly militarized Crimea, deploying bombers, fighter jets, and the Black Sea Fleet, transforming the region into a fortified base. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy now argues that Crimea was never just about territory—it was a springboard for future war. His remarks highlight how Russia’s early moves enabled the full-scale invasion launched in 2022, with Crimea serving as a vital hub for missile strikes, drone attacks, and logistics. The peninsula’s role underscores the wider threat Russia poses across Europe if unchecked. Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: / @themilitaryshow #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/XLJVNj8n How this content was made Auto-dubbed Audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Learn more Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 In 2014, almost a decade before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, ordered an illegal and aggressive takeover of the Crimean Peninsula. Ever since, experts have debated exactly what the reasoning behind this move was. Some argue it was a simple power play. Others suggest it was the start of Putin’s push to reclaim territories he felt belonged to him, or a simple distraction – a way to get the Russian people back on side and shift their focus away from corruption, economic problems, and other issues. Now, the truth of why Russia occupied Crimea may have finally been revealed, courtesy of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who believes he has figured out exactly what Putin has been planning, all along. The annexation of the Crimean Peninsula took place in early 2014, shortly after the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, which involved intense clashes between protestors and state forces in the country’s capital of Kyiv, culminating in the president at the time, 1:02 Viktor Yanukovych, being ousted from his position. Russia deployed Special Forces into Crimea, ordering them to quickly capture important sites across the peninsula, including the Crimean parliament buildings. The existing government was kicked out and replaced with a pro-Russian one, before a highly controversial and contested referendum took place, in which the Crimean people, according to Russian authorities, overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. Many countries around the world have classed that referendum as invalid and in breach of Ukraine’s constitution and sovereignty. But none of that appears to matter to Russia, as it has since gone on to militarize the peninsula and exert total control over the area. At the time of the annexation, Putin gave a lengthy speech, in which he outlined the reasons behind his decision. He claimed that Crimea was always part of Russia, stating: “In people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia. 2:00 This firm conviction is based on truth and justice and was passed from generation to generation, over time, under any circumstances, despite all the dramatic changes our country went through during the entire 20th century.” Putin also attempted to argue that Russia was coming to aid and protect its people in Crimea who were allegedly under threat in the wake of the protests and revolutionary movement: “The residents of Crimea and Sevastopol turned to Russia for help in defending their rights and lives, in preventing the events that were unfolding and are still underway in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkov and other Ukrainian cities. Naturally, we could not leave this plea unheeded; we could not abandon Crimea and its residents in distress.” The Russian leader also suggested that Ukraine was attempting to join the NATO alliance, bringing NATO warships worryingly close to Russia’s shores. All of this, he claimed, was the reasoning behind the decision to enter Crimea and make it a part of Russia. Of course, Putin is an expert in propaganda. He’s leaned on lies and falsehoods throughout 3:05 his time in power, constantly twisting the truth to suit his own agenda. We’ve seen it happen countless times, which is why Putin’s word means so little. World leaders saw yet another example of this recently, when Putin met with US president Donald Trump and appeared willing to make some concessions and perhaps even agree to a peace deal, before resuming large-scale strikes on Ukraine. The Russian president knows exactly what to say to get people onside or excuse his outrageous actions. He also knows that, within Russia, he holds the power, so can effectively get away with doing whatever he wants, making up any excuses that seem to fit the narrative, and moving on to his next grand plan. As such, Putin’s explanations for capturing Crimea cannot be taken at face value. The bigger picture must be considered, examining what Russia did after taking control of the Crimean Peninsula, to fully understand why it made that decision in the first place. 4:01 And if there’s one man who has followed Russia’s actions closer than anyone else in recent years, it’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president recently sat down for an interview with French magazine, Le Point. During that interview, he was asked about a possible end to the war and whether or not Ukraine would have to eventually agree to give up territories, such as Crimea, to bring about a state of peace. This is something that has been brought up on numerous occasions whenever discussions of ceasefires or peace agreements have taken place. American president Donald Trump, for example, has urged Zelenskyy to make concessions, recently posting on Truth Social: “President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.” Trump went on to say that Zelenskyy would have to agree to let Russia keep Crimea and abandon any intentions of ever joining the NATO alliance in the future. There have also been talks of proposed “land swap” agreements between Kyiv and Moscow in order to bring about an end to the war. Zelenskyy has, however, rejected any notion 5:04 of ceding Ukrainian soil to Russia. He recently wrote on social media: “Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war.... And it is Moscow that must hear the word: Stop” And, when asked by Le Point if Ukraine should agree to cede territories like Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, Zelensky was unequivocal in his response: “These people, with all due respect, do not fully understand what Russia wants or what it is capable of. They also do not understand that we are not just fighting for territory. Violating a country's territorial integrity has a profound meaning: it is a violation of international law. It amounts to giving the aggressor the opportunity to do whatever it wants. It is a violation of all the conditions for normal life. To those in Europe who reduce the situation to a territorial issue, I say: Look at these territories. They are not just land; they are someone's home. They are also the graves of your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents. There are also schools 6:02 and children. This land is mentioned in Ukrainian history books. Films have been shot there, poems have been written there. The Russians came to try to erase our identity, to rewrite history. We are fighting to preserve our identity. Our fight is not just for territory. It is for Ukraine, which is made up of pieces of history and people.” Following on, the French interviewer asked Zelenskyy how he could convince the rest of Europe, including countries that were quite far away from Ukraine, that they, too, should feel impacted by the war and could be at risk in the future, should Putin succeed. It was then that Zelenskyy gave the real reason he feels Russia occupied Crimea, all those years ago: “It's very simple. Some media outlets claim that if Ukrainian soldiers left the eastern regions of our country, peace would be restored. This is not true. Putin invaded Crimea to use it as a springboard and encircle the south of our country. That is, to prepare for another offensive. He invaded part of the east of our country in 2014 to 7:04 use it as a springboard to completely occupy these regions. If, tomorrow, we somehow left Donbass, which will not happen, we would open up an unprotected space for Putin, near a city of one and a half million inhabitants: Kharkiv. He would also seize the industrial center of Dnipro. This would open up opportunities for him.” There’s a lot of evidence to back up Zelenskyy’s theory, as Russia very quickly militarized Crimea in the wake of the 2014 annexation, setting up bases and moving military assets there. Russia’s 43rd Independent Naval Assault Aviation Regiment took control of Saky airbase on Crimea’s western coast, for example, operating a fleet of Sukhoi Su-24M bombers and Su-30SM fighter jets. Once the full-scale invasion began in 2022, Russia quickly began to make use of its assets and bases across the Crimean Peninsula. As the 8:00 war has continued, the area has proven to be an invaluable strategic and logistic hub for carrying out military operations against Ukraine, helping Russia deal huge amounts of damage, kill soldiers and civilians alike, and strengthen its positions along the front lines. Airfields like Saky and Belbek, for example, have been used as launch pads for Russian aircraft to drop bombs and fire missiles at Ukrainian cities, towns, and front line positions. Drones, too, have been launched from Crimea into southern and central Ukrainian regions, and the Kremlin has even converted a civilian airport into a drone war base, setting up storage facilities and camouflage tents, reportedly to hide numerous UAVs for further attacks into Ukraine. Russia has also used the protection offered by Crimea to deploy its Black Sea Fleet from the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, firing Kalibr-class cruise missiles at Ukraine and setting up naval blockades in areas like Odesa. Crimea has additionally proven to be a valuable 9:02 transport hub for Russia, which has relied heavily on its Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russian mainland and allows for quick and fluid transportation of supplies back and forth between the two areas. The Kremlin’s forces have also deployed some of their most modern, expensive, and important pieces of military equipment to the Crimean Peninsula, like S-500 air defense systems and powerful radar technologies. This shows just how valuable the area is in the eyes of Russian commanders, and there’s no doubt that if Russia didn’t hold control of Crimea, it would have had a much tougher time in this war. It would have struggled to assert dominance over the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, for example, which, in turn, would have made it much more difficult to carry out its countless missile strikes on cities across Ukraine, especially the southern areas, like Zaporizhia. And without being able to funnel resources over the Kerch Strait Bridge and amass troops in Crimea, Russia would not have been able to launch much of an offensive into Ukraine from the south, 10:04 into regions like Kherson and Zaporizhia. It would instead have had to attack almost exclusively from the east, over the land border into Luhansk and Donetsk. However, thanks to the tactical advantage afforded by Crimea, Russia now controls around three quarters of both Kherson and Zaporizhia, along with the vast majority of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, for a grand total of approximately 20% of Ukraine’s territory. There’s no way of knowing for certain if this was all part of a long-term master plan by Putin, but it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. There have been rumors and reports for many years that the Russian president wanted to expand his sphere of power and grow Russia’s territory, potentially retaking former Soviet Union republics, like Ukraine. But invading and taking over large parts of other nations is a huge task and one that demands the most prudent planning and execution in order to be successful. It’s possible that Putin may have played the long game here, waiting for the right time to strike. 11:04 He took advantage of the social and civil unrest in Ukraine in 2014 to seize Crimea and fuel separatism in Donbass, providing a position of power for further strikes into the country later on. He then bided his time once more, putting his plans into place and building his forces slowly but surely across the Crimean Peninsula for the full-scale invasion of 2022. This all ties in with certain statements from various key figures and officials, both within and outside of Russia. Shortly after the annexation of Crimea, for example, Gleb Pavlovsky, who once worked as one of Putin’s closest advisors but later emerged as a critic of the Kremlin, explained: “The annexation of Crimea was a well-elaborated plan, it is impossible to send Main Intelligence Directorate special forces to a foreign territory without a plan. The fact that the operation was brilliantly implemented proves that the plan was created long ago and was kept at the General Staff's office for years.” 12:02 Another Kremlin critic, Gennady Gudkov, agreed, and indirectly suggested that Putin had plans far beyond Crimea: “Putin wants to go down in history as a person who brought Russia's lost territories back. He has had this idea for a long time.” Also around the time of the annexation, Putin himself floated the idea of taking other territories in eastern Ukraine, citing the likes of Donetsk and Luhansk, which he referred to as being part of “New Russia”: “It's new Russia. Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Odessa were not part of Ukraine in tsarist times, they were transferred in 1920. Why? God knows. Then for various reasons these areas were gone, and the people stayed there – we need to encourage them to find a solution.” In addition, the Russian independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reportedly obtained a leaked memo from within the Kremlin, suggesting that Russia’s leadership had been planning to annex Crimea and proceed further to take over other areas of Ukraine just weeks before the March 2014 annexation. 13:04 All of this evidence paints a very clear picture in which the Kremlin had been plotting not merely to occupy Crimea, but to invade eastern and southern Ukraine, as well. This aligns with Zelensky’s notion that the 2014 annexation was all part of a bigger plan, designed to give the Kremlin a major tactical edge when the time came for a full-scale invasion. The most worrying part is that this, too, may just be the next step in an even larger plan to extend Russia’s borders even further or perhaps, ultimately, launch an attack on NATO itself. This is something that Zelenskyy has repeatedly brought up in media interviews and discussions with European and other national leaders. During the interview with Le Point, he once again issued a warning to the world: “What I'm talking about here concerns Ukraine, but if you think on a different scale, if Putin were to succeed in taking over our entire country, he would use it as a springboard in the same way. Whether he does so or not will depend 14:00 on Europe's firmness. If Europe is strong, he probably won't do anything, but if it is weak, then it will be subject to Russia's actions. There are less than 3,000 kilometers between Moscow and Paris. But today the missiles that Russia is using against Ukraine have a range of 2,500 kilometers. We ourselves have missiles with a range of 3,000 kilometers. What do I mean by that? That war promotes technological developments here, in Europe, but also in Russia. With this technological development, there are no longer any distant wars. Believe me, in two years, the Russians will have many missiles—we will too—with a range of 5,000 kilometers. The sea will protect no one. The ocean will protect no one.” Zelenskyy also emphasized the fact that while Ukraine is currently facing up to Russia’s aggression, the situation could change dramatically in the future. If Kyiv eventually were to fall, Putin could simply move further and further west, bringing the full force of his war machine to the Baltic States, to Poland, and even to major Western European nations, like Germany: 15:05 “Today, everyone says that Ukraine is located on the eastern flank of Europe. That's not my opinion. If you look at the continent, Ukraine is at the center of Europe. And it's not because I'm the President of Ukraine that I say that. Moreover, there is another, more conceptual aspect. Given Russia's ambitions today, it is the fate of Ukraine that will determine where this eastern border is. If Ukraine doesn't hold out, this border will be that of Poland, or even Germany.” Understandably, this is why Ukraine continues to call on its allies around the Western world to continue supporting it and continue punishing Russia in the most effective ways, with strict sanctions that weaken the Russian economy and make it harder for Putin to persist with his ruthless and reckless campaign. Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha, recently repeated this demand: “Russia has not changed its aggressive goals and shows no signs of readiness for meaningful negotiations. 16:00 It's time to hit the Russian war machine with severe new sanctions and sober Moscow up.” Over in Russia, meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called on countries and international authorities around the world to recognize the annexed territories such as Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea as officially belonging to Russia. Lavrov said: “In order for a durable peace, the new territorial realities that arose... must be recognized and formalized in accordance with international law.” Putin, meanwhile, struck a bullish tone when speaking with reporters in Beijing, where he attended a military parade with the leaders of China and North Korea, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. The Russian president claimed that his forces were advanced on “all fronts” and making it harder for Ukraine to fight back. He also vowed to keep up the pressure unless Ukraine agreed to a peace deal: “If there is no peace deal, then we will have to resolve all our tasks militarily.” In other words, Putin isn’t backing down. He intends to keep the fight going for as long as it takes or as long as Russia is able, no matter the cost. 17:03 Russia has already suffered a million casualties and seen tens of thousands of its military vehicles and pieces of equipment go up in smoke. Its economy is weakening and life is getting increasingly harder for its people. The longer the conflict continues, the worse it will become for all involved, but none of that appears sufficient to convince Putin to bring an end. However, for as long as Russia keeps fighting, it appears that Ukraine, too, will keep on defending itself. It’ll continue to dig in along the front lines and fend off wave after wave of Russian assaults, shoot down as many drones and missiles as it can, and launch impactful counter-attacks of its own over the border, deep on Russian soil. It will also continue the fight to liberate its lost lands, including Crimea, which Ukraine has successfully struck on numerous occasions, damaging military infrastructure, blowing up bombers, and weakening Russia’s grip over the region. It’s likely, too, that Zelenskyy will maintain his stance that Ukraine is not willing to simply hand 18:03 over any of its territories to Russia, which could make a peace deal notably more difficult or even impossible to achieve in the current climate. This could drive the war into an even deeper state of stalemate, with neither side likely to emerge victorious and both unable to agree a deal. In other words, an end to this bloody conflict appears increasingly far off, unless something changes suddenly. That’s why some Ukrainians have called on European leaders to intensify their sanctions and force Russia to submit, which you can learn more about in our recent video. Alternatively, for an inside look at the chaos unfolding behind the scenes at the Kremlin, watch our detailed breakdown of the ongoing purge and emerging conflict between Russia’s military and intelligence services. Make sure to subscribe to our trusted channel, too, so you can be among the first to find out about the latest big news and major developments from the Russia-Ukraine war.

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