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.
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, CNN reports.
CNN has not been able to independently verify the Russian state media report.
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