War in Ukraine: The Kerch Bridges again shaken the explosions

Kiev, BRATISLAVA. The day after the drone attack on the air bases in the Russian inland, the Ukrainian secret service reported on another attack. This time to the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland with the occupied Ukrainian peninsula Crimea.

An explosion at one of the pillars of the bridge occurred on Tuesday before 5 am, the newspaper wrote Kyiv Post Referring to the SBU secret service, which also published a video that captures the explosion at the bridge on the social media.

SBU announced that it used an explosive with an equivalent of 1100 kilograms of trinitoluene and the pillar hit the seabed. The explosion, according to Kiev, knocked out the bridge from the activity, but on Tuesday evening it was not clear how long.

According to Kyiv, the pro -Russian sources on the Telegram social network informed the post of repeated interruptions and renewal of road traffic on the bridge, and there were also references to the second explosion around half past four in the afternoon.

How many explosions have occurred?

On Tuesday SBU according to Kyiv Independent She informed that the operation was preparing for several months, and the explosion at 4:44 in the morning referred to as « activation of the first explosive ».

The pro -Russian sources on the telegram wrote about the downtime of the air drones over the Crimea around six in the morning, as well as the detention of the alleged Ukrainian agent. However, according to the BBC Mask He was detained by Sevastopol, a town on the opposite coast of Crimea, such as the Kerch Bridge.

The BBC was able to geolocalize The place of the first pillar explosion, which supports the road part of the bridge, while the periods during which the bridge was closed, open and then re -closed would indicate that in the afternoon there was actually a second explosion.

Although it was not clear what explosive the Ukrainian special units used, the British station recalled that the United States Ukraine They provided a plastic explosive C-4 several times.

As Ukraine has already attacked the bridge in the past with water drones, Russia has placed protective barriers. Several pro -Russian sources on Tuesday also wrote that explosions at the bridge caused impacts of Ukrainian surface drones to these barriers.

The link by an ally

The Kerch Bridge is a legitimate military destination as an occupying transport artery, but attacks on it make sense even if Ukraine cannot physically remove it from activity.

« We don’t want to show strength, but we show it because the enemy doesn’t want to stop. We show it fairly, against military goals, » cited CNN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

« We not only show it to Russian aggressors, but also to all the allies who were once strong allies, but started to question us, » he said.

Similarly, Cedric Leighton, a military expert and former colonel of the American Air Force also evaluated the attack in an interview with the US station.

« This is not just a military campaign, it is also a PR campaign of Ukraine to recover its allies. To convince people in the US and Western Europe that it is worth fighting for Ukraine, » he said.

Importantly, Ukraine can carry out attacks on Russian goals that seem to deny events on the front where Russia is predominant and slowly progressing.

« Ukrainians rely on accuracy. It shows us that they use news information very accurately, not using the Soviet method of mass attacks. This also means less victims of civilian objects, » Leighton thinks.

They also attacked the bridge in the past

The Kerch Bridge began to build Russia in 2016 and its construction, including the railway, lasted three years.

Meanwhile, it has become an important transport artery that Russia used during the current phase of the war against Ukraine. Although its military importance has fallen in the meantime, it is still a symbol of the Russian occupation of the Peninsula, which lasts since 2014.

Since 2022, when Russia has unleashed the current phase of the war against Ukraine, the Kerch Bridge has been a legitimate goal of Ukrainian troops.

A significant attack came in October 2022when a truck loaded with explosives exploded on the bridge. Two segments of the road (not rail) part of the bridge collapsed into the sea.

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Technologically more interesting was the attack from July 2023, when Ukraine attacked the bridge using the Sea Baby surface drones, which carried 850 kilograms of explosives.

Ukraine used the same drones in attacks on Russian military ships in the Black Sea.