The Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to the Russian mainland closed temporarily on Tuesday following a reported Ukrainian attack. The peninsula was reportedly struck by missiles from a U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The reported strike comes days after the U.S. authorized a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
The bridge, constructed following Crimea’s annexation, was previously damaged by a truck bomb in October 2022. It was damaged again in July 2023. Once critical supply infrastructure for Russian forces, the bridge has become less important as a result of Russian territorial gains linking Crimea to the Russian-occupied Donbass and Russia proper by land.
The bridge’s closure was announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning, local time, but it is now said to be open again.
“Tonight, militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile attack on the Republic of Crimea,” claimed Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together With Russia organization in the Zaporozhye (Zaporizhzhia) region, officially annexed to Russia but only partly under Russian control.
“Russian air defense worked over Dzhankoy and Simferopol. According to latest information, our defenders did an excellent job,” he added.
CRIMEA.
Destroying the Kerch Strait bridge is a key goal of President Volodymyr Zelensky. He has lobbied the Joe Biden regime to supply him with long-range ATACMS capable of striking it for years. However, the Pentagon has hitherto supplied only shorter-range ATACMS, fearing missile strikes deep inside Russian territory could escalate the conflict.
Zelensky has rejected a rumored peace plan proposed by Donald Trump in part because it would involve Ukraine acknowledging Russian sovereignty in Crimea. Most of the peninsula’s population are ethnic Russians and Russian speakers, and it was historically considered part of Russia until Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.
Zelensky still insists on reclaiming Crimea as a key war objective despite his 2023 counter-offensive having failed disastrously.