As Russia tries to solidify its ‘land bridge,’ Ukraine attempts to push back in the south.

As Russia wages a destructive war in eastern Ukraine, its forces have been busy trying to restore transportation links and other key infrastructure in the vast stretch of land it occupies in the south.

Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia’s military, working with Russian Railways, had repaired about 750 miles of track in southeastern Ukraine and set the conditions for “full-fledged traffic” to flow from Russia, through Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, to occupied territory in Kherson and on to Crimea.

He also said that water was once again flowing to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal — an essential source of freshwater that Ukraine cut off in 2014 after the Kremlin annexed the peninsula.

Russia’s claims could not be verified, and Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment. Read more

@nytimes