REDemption Part 1 - Crimea River

Ukraine on the Edge In 1991, Ukraine became its own country. Some of the people who live in the Ukraine, especially in the Southeast, trace their backgrounds to Russia. While most of the country has wanted to align with the West and join NATO, some in the country want to keep the Ukraine aligned with Russia. The Soviet Union and later Russia has long used the port facilities on Crimea as a strategic location from which to control the Black Sea, and facilitate commerce. When Ukraine separated from the Soviet Union, Russia worked a deal to lease facilities on Crimea. Sevastopol is the only Russian port that does not freeze-over during winter. There also happens to be seven very productive petroleum fields around Crimea. In 2012, the Ukrainian government made a decision to let Russia's lease of the port expire in 2017, and to allow exploration and drilling rights to several Western oil companies. In 2014, there were sudden protests and violence between Pro-West, and Pro-Russian Ukrainians. On Feb 23, 2014, well equipped, highly professional, but unmarked soldiers siezed key locations on the Crimean peninsula. Military units belonging to the Ukrainian government left without a fight. Russia denied any involvement, and the mystery soldiers were called "Little Green Men", by observers. On March 18, 2014, Crimea was annexed into Russia. Most of the world still considers Crimea to be part of Ukraine, even though it is currently under total Russian control. Crimea has a couple of power generation plants, but they don't produce enough power to cover the whole peninsula, so additional power was required from the Ukraine mainland. When Ukraine left, they pulled the plug and Crimea went brown. In addition, most of the rail and highway infrastructure between Russia, and the ports on Crimea stretch across Southeast mainland Ukraine. The infrastructure across the Kerch Strait is not enough to maintain a supply chain between Russia and Crimea. Later in 2014, the "Little Green Men" s