So let's talk about Crimea.
As we all should know, russia obtained crimea by referendum back in 2014. The importance of crimea, other than the significance of sevastopol are two fold.
1) extending Russias EEZ into the black sea (likewise limiting Ukraine's EEZ) and donchaknowit, natural gas exploration confirms deposits around crimea.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-the-black-sea-could-emerge-as-the-worlds-next-great-energy-battleground/2) russia, historically, needed a warm water port to keep up with European powers in the 18th,19th, and 20th century. Kerch and Feodosiya are major shipyards that Russia needs.
That being said, Crimea has a terrible problem. There is basically no potable water. The way the peninsula stayed hydrated was an aqueduct system from the Dnieper river. Sometime after the referendum, Kiev dropped concrete in the aqueduct to cut off water to the peninsula.
In fact, the blockage was one of the first targets of this war.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-forces-unblock-water-flow-canal-annexed-crimea-moscow-says-2022-02-24/ (edit: looking it up the 24th was the very first day, you can see how this was a top priority)
Do not be surprised in the "post war map" if Russia maintains the lands north of crimea all the way to the Dneiper and possibly the lands to the east of this territory to maintain a contiguous land connector to russia. Because of the hardball played by ukraine, crimea has had minimal population growth and even flight of population in certain areas because of water scarcity.
If I was a betting man, with the importance to russian navy, the energy, and now potable water, I would bet major emphasis on this real estate in the next decade.
