“ The Nikolaev and Odessa oblasts would be a good way to re-route Russian natgas and oil away from the Ukrainian energy thieves and protect customers like Hungary.”
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True dat. I suspect that Russian strategic thinkers have now realized that it’s too dangerous to Russian interests to allow Ukraine Black Sea access. Ukrainians probably have themselves to blame for that shift which I conjecture was triggered by Ukrainian successful attacks on the Crimea region.
Great point.
I wasn't even thinking along those lines - but it makes enormous amounts of sense.