Live Updates: Ukraine Defies Russia With Attacks on Crimea, a ‘Holy Land’ to Putin

KYIV, Ukraine — The Crimean Peninsula dangles off Ukraine’s southern coast like a diamond, blessed with a temperate climate, expansive beaches, lush wheat fields and orchards stuffed with cherries and peaches.

It is also

for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Connected via bridge to Russia and serving as a home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, Crimea provides a vital link in the…