General Hodges: Ukrainians Are Doing Incredible Things
- 5.12.2024, 11:50
The name of the one who will demolish the Crimean bridge is called.
The liberation of Crimea is crucial for the entire war. Ukraine must do everything in its power to prevent the Russian navy and air force from functioning peacefully on the territory of the peninsula. This opinion was expressed by Ben Hodges, a military analyst and former commander of the US Army in Europe, in an interview with Hromadske.
According to him, Russia should also lose the opportunity to use Crimea as a logistics hub.
"Most of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has already been withdrawn from Sevastopol. The Ukrainian forces make it impossible for Russia to use Crimea for military purposes. Also, the Ukrainians managed to destroy most of the large ferries that Russia used to supply military equipment to Crimea. But there is still the Crimean Bridge. The Russians did a lot to protect him. However, when the time comes, it will also be destroyed," the expert assured.
The journalist also asked Hodges if it was possible to destroy the Crimean bridge with Taurus and ATACMS missiles, to which he replied:
"No, this is not the weapon with which bridges are destroyed. Strikes by these missiles can make a hole in the bridge. That is not enough. There's too much steel and concrete. Therefore, a huge amount of explosives of different types will be needed. It takes a well-planned operation to destroy this bridge. One blow is not enough to deal with such a crossing. I think if anyone in the world can demolish this bridge, it is General Budanov. I am sure that there are people in the GUR [Urkrainian Defence Intelligence - Ed.] who are working on a plan to destroy the Crimean bridge."
In addition, the military analyst was asked when Ukraine would start using F-16 fighters to counter Russian aircraft that bomb the frontline cities with KABs. He noted that these fighters are not a magical weapon that will change the course of the war.
“Ukraine does not have many pilots. And you can't risk them. I know for sure that Ukraine will have the best F-16 fleet on the planet, because Ukrainians are very quickly learning how to use new technologies. Ukrainians are doing things that would be impossible in any other air force. After all, air strikes will be needed to isolate Crimea and prevent the Russians from using the peninsula to wage war against Ukraine," Hodges said.