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.
possibly an attrition tactic? If they completely destroy the bridge, then Russia might just abandon it and transport stuff there via plane/boat instead. Damaging it just enough that it’s cheaper to fix than to set up a new supply chain, over and over, could be more costly in the long run, and regularly divert construction resources. Not to mention the impact that constantly disabling the bridge could have on Russian civilians in the area - i.e. “how is Ukraine always damaging this bridge?”
Could also be psychological - having the bridge there and hitting it over and over and over sends a pretty clear message.
I think its largely psychological/ strategic.
Show you can strike the bridge, you show the enemy they can be struck, they need to dedicate more resources to defending it.
Also, actively destroying the bridge would be a huge knock to Putin’s ability to maintain appearances.
Finally, actually disrupting the bridge would be good tactically. But thats proving harder to do. This is the third attempt?