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5) the US, under Trump, is willing to project AND use US Military Power to "get our way" and to, basically BULLY other nations with whom the US and Trump have "issues."

The operative word there is "struck", not necessarily "sunk" or "destroyed". Many of the vessels struck may have relatively minor damage. Still, they are out of commission at least for a time. The Sea of Azov is completely bereft of merchant traffic, and now the drone offensive is widening out to the Black Sea, where 20 vessels have been struck.Over the past 10 days, the Unmanned Systems Forces have struck 136 vessels of the Russian Federation’s shadow fleet; as of tonight, the operation has expanded to the Black Sea
Meanwhile, the electric grid is also being struck.During the first 10 days of the operation until July 16, Brovdi said, Ukraine had struck 147 tankers of the Russian shadow fleet. The majority, 117, were feeder tankers in the Sea of Azov. The rest were in the Black Sea.
By Monday, July 13, Brovdi declared that “movement through the strait has been stopped,” and unloading of oil to Crimea “has been reduced to a minimum”.
Crimean occupation governor Sergey Aksyonov admitted the state of emergency in a public post, saying, “We cannot guarantee daily sales of gasoline at gas stations, nor can we provide precise schedules for fuel distribution.”
The name of the overall offensive is Molochka.Ukraine also targeted the Crimean electricity supply, striking the Saky thermal power plant on July 9, five electricity substations on July 10 and nine more substations and the Kuban-Crimea electricity transfer point in Russia on July 13.
“There will be no precise schedules for electricity delivery,” said [Russian governor of Crimea] Aksyonov.
“A deep and total blackout is inevitable,” said [Ukrainian drone force commander] Brovdi.
https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/ukr ... gh-crimea/MoLoChKa,’ for ‘Moscow Will Fall Through Crimea’
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/ ... ity-a93270After the annexation in 2014, "Krym nash" ("Crimea is ours") became Moscow's favourite catchphrase. I heard it everywhere. Taxi drivers, bartenders, neighbours and television presenters repeated it until it morphed into an internet meme and everyday joke. Those two words encapsulated Putin's promise: Russia was back, defying the West and correcting a historical wrong.
The shocking annexation in the wake of Ukraine's Maidan Revolution allowed Putin to cast himself as the leader who had reversed Russia's post-Soviet humiliation.
Twelve years later, Putin's Crimean fairy tale is colliding with reality. The peninsula is no longer the carefree Black Sea Riviera promised by the Kremlin.
Sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have disrupted fuel supplies, electricity and transport links, driving up prices and exposing Crimea's logistical fragility.