Russian forces are no longer using the Crimean bridge, a key supply route, to replenish Moscow's stocks of weapons and ammunition in the annexed peninsula and southern Ukraine, according to Kyiv.
Ukrainian strikes on the 12-mile-long bridge have disrupted the flow of weapons for Russia's military, but Moscow will likely attempt to restart the supply stream once the bridge is structurally secure, Vasyl Maliuk, the head of Ukraine's SBU security service, told the news agency Interfax-Ukraine.
The Crimean bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is a strategically key link between Russia's Krasnodar region and the peninsula, which Moscow has controlled since it annexed Crimea in 2014. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the bridge in the more than two years of all-out war, and the bridge is frequently closed by authorities.
Before Ukraine's strikes, up to 46 trains carrying weapons and ammunition had made it across the bridge each day, the SBU chief said in remarks reported by Ukrainian media. Now, up to five trains make the crossing each day, four of which carry passengers, Maliuk said. The fifth transports general consumer goods.
"The enemy does not use the bridge today at all to supply weapons and means of destruction," Maliuk added. Once Russian authorities restore the bridge, "perhaps they will begin to haul their ammunition across this bridge again."
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Russia said last August that Ukraine had launched missiles at the bridge. Kyiv's homegrown naval drones fitted with explosives targeted the bridge the previous month.
Russian authorities said in October 2022 that a bomb carried in a truck had detonated on the bridge. Footage widely shared online showed damage to the bridge's rail and road components. Ukraine later claimed responsibility for a blast that damaged the bridge in July 2023.
"The bridge is doomed," Maliuk said in November 2023.
The Crimean bridge was built shortly after Russia annexed the peninsula. It was personally unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, making the bridge an appealing propaganda, as well as military, target for Ukraine.
In late February, the head of Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency, Kyrylo Budanov, issued a veiled warning urging civilians to not use the crossing.
Ukraine has lobbied Germany, one of its NATO backers, to send its Taurus long-range cruise missiles to support Kyiv's war effort. Experts previously told Newsweek that these missiles, which feature a slightly different warhead design compared with two close relatives, the Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, would be more effective weapons for targeting bridges.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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