[Jim W N]

It’s all about Russian getting warm-water ports.

[Veto!]

Isn’t that the area with rare earth minerals?

[HombreSecreto]

Goad Ukr to fortify Donetsk then Rus advances toward Odessa?

[Brian Griffin]

“It’s all about Russian getting warm-water ports.”

The direction of Russian surface warships has been downward.

[nickcarraway]

Russia has been working on that for centuries. Read about their naval expedition in the Russo-Japanese War. A Navy fronted by the Three Stooges would have been different. I think the only ship they sank was an ancient British fishing boat.

[OKSooner]

Speaking of which, is there a warm water port in Kaliningrad?

[MinorityRepublican]

[BobL]

“It’s all about Russian getting warm-water ports.”

Russia already has warm water ports so it’s more like Russia trying to keep the warm water ports that it already has, which is why Russia had agreed to forgo Odessa until the Neocons prevented the agreement from being signed in Spring, 2022.

[FreedomPoster]

Well, Sevastopol was theirs since before Texas was a state, so there is that.

[Svartalfiar]

It’s all about Russian getting warm-water ports.

If Russia completely went home, AND gave back Crimea, they'd still have over 200 miles of coastline on the Black Sea, including Sochi and Novorosk. (And 300 more in the Sea of Azov!) It'd be cheaper for them to expand those facilities, or build more along that coast, than take Ukraine's by force. Unless "warm water port" is merely a minor side benefit, and not an actual objective of the Special Military Operation.