Ukraine strikes Kerch bridge in Crimea with underwater explosives

Kyiv has hit the Kerch bridge in Crimea, illegally built by Russia after the unilateral annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. Ukraine’s Security Service released the video of the attack, showing the explosion underwater.

Kyiv has hit the Kerch bridge in Crimea — a key piece of Russian infrastructure illegally built by Moscow after its unilateral annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) released the video of the attack on Tuesday, showing the explosion underwater.The operation, which took months to plan, was carried out by the SBU and took months to plan.In the official statement on Telegram, the SBU explained how exactly it managed to strike Russia’s illegally constructed bridge for the third time since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion."The operation lasted for several months. SBU agents mined the supports of this illegal construction," the agency said, adding that "without inflicting any civilian casualties, the first explosive was activated at 4:44 am."The SBU added that the bridge's underwater supports were severely damaged as 1,100 kilograms of explosives in TNT equivalent were detonated.The Kerch bridge links Russia and the Ukrainian peninsula and therefore is a critical supply and transport route for Russian forces to the occupied Ukrainian territories, specifically in southern Ukraine.Kyiv has hit the bridge twice previously, in October 2022 and July 2023, damaging it significantly but not destroying it, as it remained operational.The operation on Tuesday follows Kyiv’s daring mass drone attack on Russian strategic aviation on Sunday and has also been personally supervised by SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk.“Third time's a charm. The SBU always completes its plans and never repeats itself,” Mailuk said in a statement on Tuesday.Maliuk also reiterated that the Crimean bridge is "an absolutely legitimate target" for Kyiv.“Crimea is Ukraine, and any and any acts of occupation will be dealt with harshly," he said.According to local Telegram channels, the Crimean bridge was closed for traffic on Tuesday morning. Some Russian outlets also said that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the bridge, and its debris fell onto the road.Russia's Defence Ministry previously claimed that three Ukrainian drones were downed over Crimea overnight on Tuesday.Kyiv’s previous strikes on the Crimean bridgeApart from its significant logistical importance, the Crimean bridge has even greater symbolic value for Moscow.For the Kremlin, it serves as a statement of its occupation and unilateral annexation of Crimea, following Moscow’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.Ukraine previously struck the bridge in October 2022 when a truck with explosives was detonated as it was crossing it. The explosion was so powerful that it set fuel tanks on a passing train on fire. The blast also pulled part of the roadway off its joints and into the sea.It took Moscow around 10 months to repair the bridge when it was hit for the second time with naval drones that targeted the support pillars.After each of Kyiv’s attacks, Moscow tried to improve and strengthen the defences of the bridge, which has been widely seen as one of its most protected sites.