Russia fortifies Crimea amid fears of Ukraine counteroffensive.

Russia is reportedly redeploying weapons from occupied Crimea to southern Ukraine and fortifying the peninsula in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukraine has signaled that talks with Russia on Crimea will take place if the planned counteroffensive succeeds. This is the first time officials from President Zelensky's office have spoken about peace talks on Crimea since he took office in 2019. Ukrainian forces plan to give Russia a choice on their options to leave Crimea and even use military action as a last resort.