A fire broke out on Saturday, October 8 in the morning on the Crimean Bridge, which connects the peninsula annexed by Russia to the mainland. According to the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the fire took place after “Truck Explosion” and left three dead. This bridge over the Kerch Strait, inaugurated in 2018 after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, is a major communication axis for the Russian army, particularly for ongoing military operations in southern Ukraine, where it suffered the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
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“This bridge is an obvious military target“for the Ukrainians, reacts on franceinfo Cyrille Bret, geopolitician and researcher at the Jacques-Delors Institute. For the Ukrainian authorities, this 18-kilometer bridge “it is the symbol of the illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea. It is a clear symbol of Russia’s desire to annex part of Ukrainian territory”, he adds. Traffic is currently “limited” on the Crimean bridge, and according to Russian agencies, the road and railway tracks are damaged.
“It is an essential infrastructure for Crimea to integrate economically into the Russian Federation: without this bridge, Crimea would be a kind of island off the coast of the Federation.”
Cyrille Bretat franceinfo
“This explosion marks a bit like the breaking of the umbilical cord that the Russian authorities and Vladimir Putin himself wanted to establish between Crimea and the territory of the Russian Federation proper”, he completes. The peninsula is connected to the mainland only by the Isthmus of Perekop, in the north, between Crimea and the region of Kherson, annexed by Russia after a disputed referendum. The 18 kilometer bridge connects the mainland and the Russian Federation to the east, towards the province of Krasnodar.
The bridge is both a road bridge and a rail bridge. Even if the authorities play down the consequences of this fire in their press releases, the channels “civilian and military supplies in Crimea” will be affected, according to Cyrille Bret. “This bridge is used to transport everything that Crimea lacks: building materials, food… Crimea is a somewhat underdeveloped territory from an economic point of view. It is obviously also used to transport military equipment. .” After the annexation, before the opening of the bridge, Russia used ships to transport military equipment to Crimea.
Cyrille Bret also recalls the symbol of this bridge, wanted directly by Vladimir Putin. “It’s three billion dollars and a grand inauguration in 2018 by the president himself, he points out. We remember that the Kerch Strait is a true symbol of Russia’s desire to annex a whole part of Ukrainian territory, not only Crimea but also the province to the north, that of Mariupol.