The Chonhar Strait or Chongar Strait (; ; ) is a short, shallow, narrow

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

in Ukraine, separating the eastern and western portions of the

Syvash The Syvash or Sivash ( Russian and Ukrainian: ; , Cyrillic: Сываш, "dirt"), also known as the or (, ''Gniloye More''; , ''Hnyle More''; ), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the western edge of the Sea of Azov. Separated from the sea ...

, the shallow

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

system separating

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

from the mainland east of the

Isthmus of Perekop The Isthmus of Perekop, literally Isthmus of the Trench (; transliteration: ''Perekops'kyi pereshyiok''; ; transliteration: ''Perekopskiy peresheek,'' , ; ; transliteration: ''Taphros''), is the narrow, wide strip of land that connects the C ...

Geography

The Chonhar Strait separates Chonhar Peninsula in the north (on the mainland, and containing the village of

Chonhar Chonhar (), transliterated sometimes as Chongar (), is a village on the Chonhar Peninsula, within the swampy region of Syvash, in Henichesk Raion, Kherson Oblast. The village is a seat of the Chonhar rural community (selsoviet, silrada). It belon ...

) 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 E105 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe. It is a north–south reference road, meaning it crosses Europe from north to south, and other E-road numbers have been calculated based on these referen ...

running from northern Norway to

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

. 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

village (also on Chonhar Peninsula) is sometimes also called "Chonhar Bridge".

History

Russian Civil War

During the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, the Chonhar Strait was one avenue of attack during the

Perekop-Chongar Operation The siege of Perekop, also known as the Perekop-Chongar Operation, was a battle of the Southern Front in the Russian Civil War from 7 to 17 November 1920. The White movement's stronghold on the Crimean Peninsula was protected by the Chongar f ...

in November 1920 and was crossed by the Soviet 30th Rifle Division. The operation resulted in the Soviet capture of Crimea and forced the final evacuation of

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

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 Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

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 The Storm Shadow is a Franco-British low-observable, long-range air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. "Storm Shadow" is the weapon's British name; in France it is calle ...

missiles. Russia quickly built a pontoon bridge. Ukraine damaged the bridge again (along with the bridge of

Henichesk Strait The Henichesk Strait (alternatively Genichesk Strait; , , ,) is a narrow strait which connects the Syvash (the shallow lagoon system separating the Crimea from the rest of Ukraine east of the Isthmus of Perekop) with the Sea of Azov. It separates ...

) 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