Far Crimea: war comes to Russia’s door

In the spring of 2024, smoke began to obscure Moscow’s skyline as oil refineries set ablaze by Ukrainian drones sent towering columns of fire and black smoke over the capital. The attacks were not random. They were part of a deliberate campaign to bring the war home to Russians in a way that Kremlin-controlled television could not fully hide. As Ukraine’s Europe editor Matt Steinglass explains, the strategy targets places that matter to Russians emotionally and symbolically—above all, Crimea.

Crimea is not just a military prize. It is the spiritual and historical jewel of the Russian Empire, the site of an ancient conversion to Christianity, a resort region of beautiful beaches that generations of Soviet and Russian citizens visited on holiday. When Vladimir Putin seized it in 2014, he was reclaiming what many Russians consider sacred ground. That is precisely why Ukraine now wants to make it unlivable. “When you attack a resort area that many Russians are familiar with,” Steinglass says, “it registers more deeply in the Russian consciousness than if you just attack random areas.”