The Chonhar Strait or Chongar Strait ( uk, Чонгарська протока; russian: Чонгарский пролив; crh, Çonğar boğazı) is a short, shallow, narrow strait 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''; , Cyrillic: Чюрюк Денъиз), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the west coast of the ...

, 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' ...

system separating

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

from the mainland east of the

Isthmus of Perekop The Isthmus of Perekop, literally Isthmus of the Trench ( uk, Перекопський перешийок; transliteration: ''Perekops'kyy pereshyyok''; russian: Перекопский перешеек; transliteration: ''Perekopskiy peresheek ...

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 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 referenc ...

running from northern Norway to

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a 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 Cri ...

. 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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, the Chonhar Strait was one avenue of attack during the

Perekop-Chongar Operation The siege of Perekop, also known as the Perekop-Çonğar Operation, was the final 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 � ...

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 Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (russian: Пётр Никола́евич барон Вра́нгель, translit=Pëtr Nikoláevič Vrángel', p=ˈvranɡʲɪlʲ, german: Freiherr Peter Nikolaus von Wrangel; April 25, 1928), also known by his ni ...

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

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 ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

'' border between mainland

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

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 Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French 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 appellation. In French service, it ...

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; russian: Генический пролив, uk, Генічеська протока) is a narrow strait which connects the Syvash (the shallow lagoon system separating the Crimea from the res ...

) 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