Journalists Publish Maps Showing Russian Military Facilities in Occupied Crimea

Planet.com is a commercial company that provides updated satellite images and data to support businesses, governments, researchers, and journalists understand the physical world and take action.

Journalists from Krym.Realii studied the latest planet.com satellite images of the occupied Crimean Peninsula in a search for the Russian military. They identified a total of 223 active Russian Federation military facilities, both permanent and temporary, in Crimea.

They then transposed that information to create an interactive map where they marked the location of all the military facilities that they found. The map is searchable in Ukrainian and Russian.

Among the objects seen were military airfields and air defenses; naval bases including docks, piers and naval vessels; storage areas for ammunition, weapons, military products and fuel; locations of military units including training centers, barracks, headquarters and control points; parking areas for military vehicles and equipment; military-industrial enterprises. In total, 23 air bases, over 40 weapon and munition storehouses, 7 firing ranges and 6 military sites whose purpose could not be confirmed were found.

The map shows that the greatest concentration of Russian military facilities is located in the south-west of the peninsula, particularly around the city and ports of Sevastopol, where the Russians have placed air defense systems, air bases as well as facilities for the Black Sea Fleet.

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The creator of the map, Krym.Realii journalist Ihor Tokar said that the main idea of their project was to inform people about how the level of militarization in the Crimean Peninsula had increased under Russian occupation.

"We want to warn Crimeans about the dangers associated with these places. After all, many people live in the immediate vicinity of military facilities of the Russian Federation. And taking into account the large-scale military actions that Russia is conducting against Ukraine, these places are particularly dangerous for others," said Tokar.

Krym.Realii media is a project developed by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.