Russia has provided fresh evidence of its territorial ambitions in Ukraine

Control of the Black Sea coast would threaten the wider region, argues Dr Jennifer Mathers, senior lecturer in international politics at Aberystwyth University

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AFTER a meeting hosted by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on September 4, 26 countries have pledged to create a “reassurance force” to provide security guarantees for Ukraine in the event that a peace agreement with Russia is reached.

The Russian president reacted by saying that Russia would target any European troops deployed in Ukraine.

He said if they appeared in Ukraine while Russia's “military operation” was still under way, “we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for destruction”.

And if a peace deal were eventually agreed, he added: “I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop.”

Russia is maintaining its demand that any peace deal should involve Ukraine ceding the regions it has occupied or part occupied: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

But new evidence has come to light suggesting that Putin's territorial ambitions in Ukraine go well beyond those regions.

A map, spotted in the background during a briefing given by Russia's chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, in August, shows the two countries divided by a thick black line.

On the Russian side of the line are not only the five publicly claimed regions of Ukraine, but also the territories of Odesa and Mykolaiv.

These areas, which hug the coastline of the Black Sea, are of considerable geostrategic significance.

Russian occupation of Odesa and Mykolaiv would go a long way towards fulfilling one of Russia’s longstanding ambitions: domination of the Black Sea region.

Control of this territory would give Russia a land corridor to Transnistria, a breakaway region in eastern Moldova with strong pro-Russian sympathies.