Satellite images show Russia no longer using the Crimean bridge to supply troops in Ukraine after repeated Ukrainian attacks on the vital link between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, occupied since 2014, Independent says.
According to an analysis by Ukraine’s private intelligence agency Molfar, Moscow has rerouted its military supplies, switching to using overland routes through occupied eastern Ukrainian regions like Donetsk to transport matériel to its front lines. This shift comes in the wake of successful strikes in 2022 and 2023 by Ukrainian forces targeting the 19 km Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia.
Molfar’s examination of satellite imagery from Maxar reveals that almost no Russian military freight trains have traversed the Crimean bridge over the past three months. The only exception was a single train carrying around 55 fuel tankers crossing on 29 February.
The analysis notes a stark decline in Russian military traffic on the bridge following a Ukrainian drone attack on 17 July 2023 that damaged sections of the roadway and rail line. Prior to this strike, Russia was operating over 40 weapons-laden trains daily across the strategic bridge, while now traffic is now down to just four passenger trains and a single general goods freight train a day, according to Ukrainian security service head Vasyl Maliuk, Independent says.
After an earlier truck bombing attack in October 2022 that allegedly killed four people, satellite data showed no major train movement in July or August of that year as well.
With the Crimean bridge supply line disrupted, Russia has ramped up freight transport via the Taman route in Rostov region instead. Russian forces are also constructing new rail links connecting occupied Melitopol, Berdiansk, and Mariupol to Crimea and Russia’s mainland, likely to facilitate Russia’s expected summer offensive.
Molfar’s CEO Artem Starosiek suggests Ukraine should now focus on targeting these overland resupply routes rather than the non-operational Crimean bridge. He states,
“It is these paths that are currently a more serious threat than the non-working railway path of the Crimean bridge,” he said, according to Independent.
Read also:
- Official: Ukrainians destroy partially built railway bridge near occupied Mariupol
- The Guardian: Ukraine plans to destroy Kerch bridge by June
- Russia, China discuss Russia-Crimea underwater tunnel project
- Russia builds new railway to connect Crimea to mainland Ukraine’s occupied Mariupol, Donetsk
- 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
