Azov Corps: Kherson 2.0 is next, then Crimea. Russia has no way to resupply them.
Ukraine's campaign to sever Russia's supply lines into occupied Crimea could eventually force Moscow out of occupied Kherson Oblast, and then Crimea itself, the Azov Corps has said on the record. Asked by Euromaidan Press whether a "Kherson 2.0" was possible, the formation's press service answered plainly: "Kherson Oblast and Crimea—yes."
The Azov Corps gave its assessment to Euromaidan Press for an analysis, "Russian forces depend on Crimea. Ukraine is turning it into an island," that traces the supply lines Ukraine is severing and what their loss would cost Moscow.
"Kherson 2.0" refers to the autumn of 2022, when Ukraine forced Russia to abandon the city of Kherson. Sustained strikes on Russian logistics made holding the west bank of the Dnipro River untenable, and Moscow pulled its troops back across the river rather than leave them cut off.
The same logic now reaches further south, Azov Corps argued. "While the administrative borders of the Crimean Peninsula do not fall directly within the operational zone of First Corps Azov, the logic governing transportation hubs there is identical," the press service said. Russian forces in Kherson Oblast and Crimea lean on a small set of bridges and roads, and Ukraine has spent weeks knocking them out.
Russian attempts to work around the damage are failing, the formation added: "The enemy's attempts to reroute main supply flows around key bridges or main arteries are impossible both in theory and in practice, as no viable alternative routes exist." Between 7 and 13 June, Ukrainian drones hit the Chonhar bridge and other crossings until Russian-installed officials said no intact bridges remained at the peninsula's land entrances.
The strikes are part of a months-long Ukrainian effort to choke the south. Ukraine has hit bridges, rail lines, locomotives, and fuel routes across occupied Kherson Oblast and Crimea, and Russian-installed officials have acknowledged worsening fuel shortages on the peninsula.
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has described the campaign as turning Crimea "from a peninsula into an island." Azov Corps' answer puts a named Ukrainian military formation behind the next step: that the squeeze on supply could make Russian positions in Kherson Oblast, and then Crimea, as hard to hold as Kherson city became in 2022.
In an interview with Euromaidan Pres, Ben Hodges, the former commander of the US Army in Europe, predicted in January 2023 that Ukraine would liberate Crimea by that August, calling the occupied peninsula a trap for Russian forces rather than a fortress.
Ukraine to liberate Crimea by end of August 2023 – former commander of US Army in Europe
The deadline passed, and Hodges later told European Pravda why: his forecast had always carried one caveat—that the West would supply the long-range weapons Ukraine needed to isolate Crimea—and it did not. Ukraine is now building that reach itself.
The strike campaign severing Crimea's supply routes is the isolation Hodges described, achieved with the deep-strike capability the West withheld—what Euromaidan Press in 2025 called the layered drone superiority that makes a counteroffensive possible.
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