The Chonhar Strait or Chongar Strait
( uk, Чонгарська протока; russian: Чонгарский пролив; crh, Çonğar boğazı) is a short, shallow, narrow
strait
A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...
in Ukraine, separating the eastern and western portions of the
Syvash, the shallow
lagoon system separating
Crimea from the mainland east of the
Isthmus of Perekop.
Geography
The Chonhar Strait separates
Chonhar Peninsula in the north (on the mainland, and containing the village of
Chonhar
''The article's name is transliterated in accordance to the official and academical romanization of Ukrainian.''
Chonhar ( uk, Чонгар), transliterated sometimes as Chongar, is a village in Henichesk Raion, Kherson Oblast, which is located ...
) from the Tup-Dzhankoi Peninsula in the south (in Crimea). The strait is about long, varying in width from and is less than deep. Two road cross the strait. One carries the Ukrainian M18 highway, which is part of
European route E105 running from northern Norway to
Yalta. The old bridge, located further south, is abandoned. There is no railway bridge across the strait, but a rail bridge a few kilometres west at
Syvash village (also on Chonhar Peninsula) is sometimes also called "Chonhar Bridge".
History
Russian Civil War
During the
Russian Civil War, the Chonhar Strait was one avenue of attack during the
Perekop-Chongar Operation in November 1920 and was crossed by the Soviet
30th Rifle Division
The 30th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union, formed three times. The final full name of its first formation was the 30th Rifle Irkutsk Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Banner of Labour Di ...
. The operation resulted in the Soviet capture of Crimea and forced the final evacuation of
Pyotr Wrangel's
White Army and the end of the Civil War in the south.
Russo-Ukrainian War
Between 2014 and 2022, the Chonhar Strait formed part of the ''
de facto'' border between mainland
Ukraine and the
Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, and was militarized. Around 22 June 2023, amidst the
full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in which Russian forces had seized parts of southeast Ukraine bordering Crimea, Russian-installed occupation officials announced that Ukraine had damaged the highway bridge crossing the Chonhar Strait with one or more
Storm Shadow missiles.
[ Russia quickly built a pontoon bridge. Ukraine damaged the bridge again (along with the bridge of Henichesk Strait) with Storm Shadow missiles on 6 August 2023. On 15 August the bridge was reopened after repairs.]
References
{{reflist
Straits of Crimea
Straits of Ukraine
Geography of Kherson Oblast
Sea of Azov