BRITAIN'S Storm Shadow missiles could finally help Ukraine blow up the strategic Kerch bridge, retake Crimea and topple Vladimir Putin.
Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles can travel up to 600mph and blast targets up to 350 miles away that have long been out of reach for Ukraine.
It means the weapons could hit targets at maximum range in just 35 minutes – travelling near half the length of the UK.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed Britain is sending the long-rage missiles to Ukraine – allowing Zelensky's forces to further push Putin's troops back into Russia.
US military officials described the missile as a "a real game-changer from a range perspective".
The devastating missiles can wipe out well-defended static targets like facilities, bunkers and bridges – including Putin's favourite Crimean bridge that was attacked last October.
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A massive gaping hole was blown in the £3.2billion bridge – a highly symbolic link between Vlad's mainland and annexed Crimea.
And as the world awaits Kyiv's long-awaited counter-offensive, experts believe Ukraine could launch a major operation and even push into Crimea.
Behind the frontline, a new wave of troops have been training with Western weapons.
As well as Storm Shadow missiles, they will be rolling into battle with Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 main battle tanks, Stryker and Bradley armoured vehicles, and new artillery systems.
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With these weapons – in theory they should outrange and outmatch the Russians, laying the groundwork for the new offensive.
US General Ben Hodges believes Ukraine will concentrate their efforts on finally retaking Crimea – which has been in Russian hands since 2014.
Crimea holds an important naval base in Sevastopol – home to Putin's Black Sea Fleet.
General Hodges told The Sun Online: "The key is winning Crimea – that will be the decisive terrain.
"Once Crimea is liberated, it’s all over, it changes everything.
"Ukraine knows that it will never be safe without taking back Crimea."
With Hodges' extensive military experience, he believes that the offensive will focus on isolating the annexed Crimean peninsula by severing the land bridge from partly-Russian controlled areas in Ukraine's south.
"It will be aimed at breaking this land bridge and more precision weapons to hit targets and make the peninsula untenable for Russian forces," he explained.
Once Crimea is liberated, it’s all over, it changes everything
This onslaught will involve hitting Russia's air bases, ambitious attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet and targeting logistics and command centres deep into enemy-held territory in Crimea, he said.
And Storm Shadow missiles are difficult to intercept – especially when launched in salvo attacks from different directions – making it an ideal weapon to storm Crimea.
"When it makes sense to," Hodges said Ukraine may "again" blow up the Crimean bridge.
Losing the bridge would mark a huge setback to Russia’s forces and an important defeat for Putin.
Destroying the bridge would cripple part of Russia's supply chain.
General Hodges claims Ukraine's offensive will be concentrated in a narrow area to break through the well-dug in Russian lines.
"I think Ukraine will pick one or two places to focus their attack on a narrow front a few miles wide and penetrate through the fortified frontlines using tanks, mechanised infantry, engineers and artillery," he said.
"They will use their air force to help cover them and there will be activity in Russian rear area by special forces and partisans to stop them reacting [to the attack]."
He explained: "They’ve been busy training, practising and carefully protecting information – they’re waiting on the right conditions for traffic ability – waiting on the ground to be able to sustain the attack."
General Hodges told Newsweek that losing Crimea would "change everything" in Moscow.
Other experts have warned the loss of Crimea could challenge Putin's position in the Kremlin – and will be crucial to the war's outcome.
Political scientist Charles Lipson told The Spectator: "Losing it would damn Putin politically and, almost certainly, personally.
"He won’t be retiring peacefully to a palace on the Black Sea, or setting up a lobbying firm in Moscow.
"He’ll be fitted for a coffin, and he knows it."
As Ukraine reportedly prepares for its counter-offensive, it is known to be forming a network of new "Storm Brigades" – with around 40,000 soldiers.
Named Hurricane, Spartan, Chervona Kalyna, Frontier, Rage, Azov and Kara Dag (a mountain in Crimea), Ukraine's new units are preparing to play their role in a decisive new offensive to push back Putin's troops.
Russian and Eastern Europe security expert Samantha de Bendern believes Ukraine will launch a "concentrated assault".
She told The Sun Online that troops are "busy defending Bakhmut and are holding it by the skin of their teeth".
"That will change very soon," she said, when the foreign-trained Ukrainian troops arrive and so do their glitzy new weapons and machinery.
Agreeing with the military experts, she believes "they can't go on all fronts… it will be a concentrated assault".
Meanwhile, ex-Brit Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon predicts the Ukrainians will be ambitious in their counter strike – with the key being their new arsenal of Western main battle tanks.
The key to Ukrainian victory, he says, will be putting in place the logistics to maintain an advance to get far enough behind Russian lines to cause maximum devastation.
"The Ukrainians are very canny. I’ve been impressed with the way they operate," he said.
"There isn’t much we can teach them. Obviously we taught them how to use our tanks and artillery but in terms of teaching the generals, they are already very impressive.
"Now they have tanks and artillery for the close fight, I’m pretty confident they’ll be able to [succeed]."
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said late last month that Kyiv's preparations were "coming to an end" and his forces were ready "in a global sense".
Losing Crimea would damn Putin politically and, almost certainly, personally
It comes as the Institute for the Study of War said it appears that Russian forces have abandoned efforts to encircle the besieged city of Bakhmut.
Bakhmut has been referred to as the "bloodiest battle" of the war so far – with both side locked in meat grinder-style combat, with reports of soldiers beating each other to death with shovels.
And war analysts at the Conflict Intelligence Team said the main goal of the fresh counter offensive will be to "unblock" Bakhmut.
"The vehicles are already on the territory of Ukraine at the disposal of its military and may be used in combat in the nearest future," the team wrote in their situation report on March 28.
"We expect that the primary goal of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will be to unblock Bakhmut."
Russia invaded Ukraine last February – a conflict which has devolved into a grinding, brutal war.
It is believed nearly 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Putin's botched invasion.
And millions of Ukrainian civilians have endured untold misery as the Russians stole their homes and left cities devastated.
Despite the bloodshed, Kyiv is still standing strong against the Russians with backing from the West.
Putin foolishly believed his forces would be welcomed into Ukraine as liberators.
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But instead, the initial attack ended in a disaster which saw his forces devastated and thrown back to Russia.
It's believed Mad Vlad's fate is now tied to his success or failure in the war – and he continues to dangle the threat of nuclear escalation over Ukraine.
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