Ukraine claims to have damaged Russia’s bridge to annexed Crimea

In its third attack on the crucial supply line for Russian forces in the war-torn nation, Ukraine’s SBU security service reported hitting the road and rail bridge connecting Russia and Ukraine’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula with explosives.

In a lengthy investigation prepared over the course of several months, about 1,100kg (2,420 pounds) of explosives were detonated on Tuesday morning in an effort to destroy the bridge’s underwater pillars over the Kerch Strait, according to the SBU statement.

“We had two previous hits to the Crimean Bridge, in 2022 and 2023. So we continued this tradition underwater today, it said. Effectively speaking, “the bridge is now in an emergency.”

The SBU shared video that claimed to show an explosion near one of the bridge’s numerous support pillars.

Russian military bloggers speculated that the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian sea drone, claiming that it had failed.

The bridge’s regular operation had been suspended for roughly three hours between 4am and 7am local time (01:00 and 04:00 GMT), according to the official Russian outlet.

The bridge was reopened and operating as usual, despite providing no justification for the temporary closure.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, is the only direct link between the Russian transportation system and the 19-kilometer (12-mile) Crimea Bridge over the Kerch Strait.

Vladimir Putin’s main project, the bridge, was one of its kind. A separate roadway and railroad, each supported by concrete stilts, form a wider span supported by steel arches at the point where ships travel between the smaller Azov Sea and the larger Black Sea.

When they crossed the bridge to reach Crimea in February of this year, Russian forces crossed it to seize parts of Ukraine’s southern Kherson and southeast Zaporizhia regions.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine

At least three people were killed and many others were injured in the attack, according to the city council and the Ministry of Health, which were carried out by Russian forces in Sumy, Ukraine.

At least one rocket fired from a number of rocket launchers failed to detonate and lodged itself in an apartment complex, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel, “All one needs to know about the Russian wish to end this war,” in response to the attack.

Russia told Ukraine on Monday that it would only agree to end the conflict if Kyiv gave up significant new territory and accepted troop limits. This was stated during peace talks in Istanbul. The Russian demands have been repeatedly rejected as surrendering.