The communication breakdown between the U.S. and China raises the risk of an unintended crisis
NBCDec 24, 2022
The Facts
A blaze engulfed a Crimean fuel storage site in the port city of Sevastopol after it was allegedly targeted by a Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the city, said the fire grew to 1K square meters (11K square feet), damaging four fuel tanks.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, the move was rightly not recognized by the international community. Crimea remains a part of Ukraine, and the country should be given the weapons it needs, such as long-range precision missiles, in order to achieve its objective of reclaiming its territory.
Establishment-critical narrative
After nearly a decade in Russian hands, Crimea is heavily fortified and any campaign to retake the territory would be fraught with difficulty. The only options are an amphibious assault — that requires air and naval superiority, which Ukraine doesn't have — or via a thin strip of land that's easy to defend. Ukraine should give up on such unrealistic ambitions.