updates
Moscow: No damage incurred
Crimean bridge rocked by explosions again
08/12/2023 1:44 p.m
According to its own statements, Russia repelled 20 Ukrainian drone attacks on Crimea during the night. Later, there are more explosions, clouds of smoke rise over the Crimean Bridge. According to Russian authorities, however, it is not damaged.
There have been renewed explosions at the Kerch Bridge between mainland Russia and Crimea, which was illegally annexed from Ukraine by the Black Sea. The Russian air defenses shot down two enemy missiles, Moscow’s governor of the peninsula, Sergey Aksyonov, said on Telegram. “The Crimean bridge is not damaged,” he wrote. This has not yet been independently verified.
Car traffic over the 19-kilometer structure has been temporarily suspended. In the meantime, photos and videos have been published on social networks showing high columns of smoke on the bridge, which is strategically important for Russia. Local residents reported explosion noises. A little later Aksyonov wrote that there had been another rocket attack, which had also been repelled. That too cannot be checked.
The Russian Defense Ministry said after the attack that Kiev tried to hit the Crimean bridge with an S-200 anti-aircraft guided missile – and not with two drones, as initially claimed. “The Ukrainian missile was detected and intercepted in time by the Russian air defense systems,” the Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
Russian-appointed officials in occupied Crimea also claim that the smoke billowing from the Crimean Bridge is a “smoke screen” created by emergency services. Locals who stayed near the beach report seeing an impact on the bridge. Russian officials still claim there was no damage or casualties, but that remains to be seen.
The renewed drone strikes followed a series of drone strikes during the night. According to its own statements, Russia shot down 20 Ukrainian drones. The Ukrainian military has already damaged the Crimean Bridge in attacks in the past, pointing out that the structure was erected illegally by Russia on occupied territory. Initially, there was no official reaction from Kiev to the latest attack.
Ukraine keeps trying to cut off supply routes to Crimea. Just last weekend, the Chongar Bridge was shot at and hit by the British Storm Shadow. The bridge was damaged but not destroyed. The strikes against important transport routes created the conditions for future decisive operations of the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive, sources in Kiev said. Russian troops in the occupied part of the Cherson region receive supplies primarily via Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.