A land corridor has been established between Crimea and Donbas, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
In its report, the news agency cited the Vice-Premier of Crimea Georgiy Muradov, who is the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea under the President of Russia.
CNN has not been able to independently verify the Russian state media report.
According to RIA, the corridor provides a strategic route connecting Crimea to Mariupol, which is currently surrounded by Russian and Russian-backed separatist troops.
The land corridor would allow troops in Crimea to join forces with Russian-backed rebels in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), as well as giving Russian-backed forces access to key port cities along the Sea of Azov.
The RIA report also called it an “important route” for connecting Crimea to the steel-making capital Mariupol and the industrial Donbas region.
