Inaugurated in 2018 by Vladimir Putin, this strategic infrastructure is the only one to link Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula, annexed by Moscow four years earlier.
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Traffic is completely interrupted on this bridge in the Kerch Strait. The authorities of this peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia confirmed an attack, Monday, July 17 around 3 am. Two civilians died, according to Moscow: a man and a woman who were traveling by car, said the Russian Investigative Committee in a press release. Their daughter was also injured.
This bridge, 18 kilometers long, was targeted by “naval drones”, a source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) told AFP on Monday. Ukrainian special services and naval forces intervened. Inaugurated in 2018 by Vladimir Putin himself, this bridge has already been targeted, in October 2022, by a major unclaimed explosion. He is particularly strategic since it is the only one to connect Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Moscow threatens retaliation
A criminal investigation for “terrorist act” was opened after this attack. The Russian Federal Investigative Committee has started its investigations on the bridge, the road section of which is badly damaged. The building is coupled with another track dedicated to rail traffic. This section was not affected, the Crimean authorities even indicate that traffic resumed there on Monday morning.
The President of the Russian Senate, Sergei Mironov, said after the attack that Moscow must retaliate, in particular by stopping its participation in the negotiations on the grain agreement, which expires this Monday at midnight. VSand episode will have logistical consequences for the Russian forces, estimated Andriï Yusov, the spokesman of the military information. The peninsula is according to him “an important hub” for the movement of their troops in Ukraine.