Ukraine is considering launching another attack on the Kerch bridge in Crimea, which connects occupied Crimea with Russia, The Guardian reports.
This potential attack would mark the third attempt by Ukraine to target the bridge, viewed as a symbol of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Ukraine has recently intensified its drone attacks on Russian targets, including oil refineries and ports, with the latest attack hitting a refinery and drone factory in Tatarstan, over 1000 kilometers from the border. The Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR), reportedly views the destruction of the bridge as “inevitable.”
The Kerch bridge is significant to Putin, symbolizing Russia’s control over Crimea since its annexation in 2014. Its destruction would boost Ukraine’s campaign to liberate Crimea and bolster morale among its forces.
However, doubts exist about Ukraine’s ability to carry out such an operation against a well-defended target like the Kerch bridge. Russia has strengthened anti-aircraft defenses and deployed decoys to protect the bridge.
Nevertheless, the HUR thinks it has the means necessary to destroy the bridge.
We will do it in the first half of 2024,” one official told the Guardian, adding that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the main directorate of intelligence, already had “most of the means to carry out this goal”
The Guardian notes that Budanov was following a plan approved by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to “minimise” Russia’s naval presence in the Black Sea.
The potential destruction of the bridge could force Russia to transport military supplies by road through southern Ukraine, impairing its ability to conduct offensives. Ukraine seeks Western weapons to expedite the bridge’s destruction, but European leaders, including Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have been reluctant to provide such assistance due to concerns about escalation.
HUR: The bridge is a legitimate military target
In response to The Guardian’s information that the Ukrainian military intelligence plans to destroy the Kerch bridge in the first half of 2024, the spokesperson for the HUR, Andriy Yusov, responded by arguing that this information is ”not new.” In addition, the agency argued that it is a legitimate target.
After all, it is a military target that is subject to “neutralization”
Asked whether such articles do not harm the GUR’s plans, Yusov noted that “The Guardian certainly has its sources, and in the West there have been a lot of materials with quite loud headlines that refer to one or another source.”
At the same time, Yusov considers it “not always an appropriate matter” to comment on anonymous information
“If we talk about public communication, I can assure you that information is voiced and when it is needed”, Yusov said.
“But the fact that all military targets, and this illegal facility is a military target, are subject to neutralization – this is not new information. There is nothing new here”
Read more:
- Russia, China discuss Russia-Crimea underwater tunnel project
- UK intel: Russia’s repaired Kerch Bridge faces continued traffic restrictions for trucks, fuel supplies
- “Putin will get upset once again,” Ukraine’s spy boss says as Kyiv vows to finish off Kerch bridge
- SBU head unveils details of the ingenious first strike on Crimean Bridge
- Russian logistics to suffer short- and medium-term after Crimean bridge attack – ISW
