Ukraine's daring underwater strike on crimean bridge raises stakes in ongoing conflict.
(The Post News)- The Ukrainian Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) took responsibility for a daring underwater strike on the Crimean Bridge on Tuesday morning, the third time that Kyiv has targeted the symbolic and strategic bridge since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the SBU stated that Ukrainian agents had planted 1,100 kilograms of explosives on the underwater pillars of the 12-mile-long road and rail bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, in secret before exploding them at precisely 4:44 a.m. local time. The agency said the advanced operation took months to orchestrate and was conducted without causing any civilian casualties.
SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, who oversaw the operation, called the strike a move by Ukraine to disrupt Russian war logistics. “God loves the Trinity, and the SBU always brings what is conceived to completion and never does anything in repetition,” Malyuk stated. “We previously shelled the Crimean Bridge in 2022 and 2023. So today, we continued the tradition—this time underwater.”
Built by Russia in 2018 following its unlawful takeover of Crimea in 2014, the Crimean Bridge is a logistical and symbolic gem for Moscow. The bridge serves as a crucial supply corridor for Russian forces battling in occupied southern Ukraine and is also a vanity project for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The bridge cost around $4 billion to construct and physically connects the Russian mainland to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.
Although the severity of the damage is still unclear, the attack suspended both maritime and ground traffic in the area temporarily, according to Russian state media and the Telegram account of the bridge. Inspections were carried out throughout the day, with further closures and potential drone threats resulting in a heightened security presence at the location.
This latest attack comes just days after the SBU launched a long-range drone strike on Russian strategic bombers deployed outside Ukraine. That strike was said to have destroyed 34% of Russia’s cruise missile-capable fleet and inflicted an estimated $7 billion in damages.
The Crimean Bridge has been previously attacked twice, once in October 2022 when it was hit by a truck bomb, which led to a burning explosion, and in July 2023 when Ukraine targeted its infrastructure using an experimental sea drone. Russia hastened to repair both incidents and reopen the road in both cases.
The same day as the latest underwater explosion, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had arrested a suspected Ukrainian spy in Crimea who had supposedly been occupied with assembling bombs. Russian authorities also downed Ukrainian drones above the peninsula and temporarily blocked the bridge again in the afternoon amid fresh explosion rumors around Kerch.
The Ukrainian government still maintains that the bridge constitutes a “legitimate military target” insofar as it has served to deliver supplies and reinforcement troops to Russian front lines.
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