Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had hit the bridge connecting Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula with explosives planted underwater, in its third attack on the vital supply line for Moscow’s forces since the full-scale war began in 2022.
Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said on Telegram that its agents had mined the piers of the road and rail Crimean Bridge, also called the Kerch Bridge, and detonated the first explosive at 4.44 a.m. Tuesday. The whole operation took several months, it added.
The agency said it had used 1,100 kilograms of explosives which “severely damaged” the underwater pillars supporting the bridge.
Russian officials did not immediately respond to Ukraine’s claims. Traffic on the bridge has been temporarily suspended, the bridge operator announced on its official Telegram account.
Honestly I was surprised it wasn’t pre-wired with explosives or some way to ensure rapid disassembly in case of invasion.
Seems like a no-brainer, but I’m sure that would be prohibitively expensive due to shelf life and stability of explosives, and maintainence for any mechanically coupled systems.
Hindsight is usually 20/20
Because the bridge was built by Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia built the bridge after it invaded Crimea in 2014 by the way
Switzerland used to have all their bridges wired to blow. They should probably get back on that :/