a con tin ug land corridor from crimea deep into donbas. they are trying to move west from kherson to odesa. odesa is the prize as the main port from which ukraine trades with the world, it is the most important city for ukraine economically. it s also a city replete with symbolic significance. it was here in 1905 that a mutiny on the battleship made famous by at movie marked the beginning of the troubles of czarist russia. were odesa to fall ukraine would be practically landlocked and the black sea would essentially become a russian lake, which would almost certainly tempt moscow to then extend its military power into moldova, which has its own break-away region filled with many russian speakers. putin could present this outcome as a grand victory, liberating russian speakers, gaining crucial cities and ports and turning ukraine into a nonviable vassle state.