The The Kerch Strait Bridge is 12 miles long linking the Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia, which was heavily damaged by Saturday’s explosion, is not only the main supply route for Moscow’s forces fighting in southern Ukraine. It also holds deep symbolic significance for Russian President Putin, a pillar of his claim to the Crimean Peninsula since the completion of two spans in 2018.
Mr. Putin presided over The bridge is openpersonally drove a truck across the de facto link between Russia and Crimea – land Mr Putin usurped from Ukraine in 2014 and annexed in the face of international outcry.
Ukrainians dislike the bridge, whose symbolism and strategic importance for resupply have long made it a potential target. Over the summer, the Ukrainian military posted a mocking image on Twitter threatening to attack it with US-supplied guided missiles. The video shows the launch vehicle, a High Mobility Artillery Missile system, floating on a pink inflatable pool raft in the strait and the bridge in the background.
And at one point during the summer, it appeared to have been targeted: Russian officials say that a drone has activated the air defense system. The Ukrainian government had no official comment at the time.
Destruction of the bridge would be one of the biggest blows Ukraine could deal with Moscow as it would cut off the only land route to bring supplies from Russia to its bases in Crimea.
It will certainly anger the Kremlin as well. Moscow has stepped up countermeasures to protect the structure, deploying a target ship – complete with a variety of radar reflectors – to protect the bridge from attack and perform drills to cover the bridge with a smoke screen.
As well as its military value, the structure has deep symbolic significance for the Kremlin. After illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, Moscow announced it would connect the peninsula to Russia.
For a century, negotiations over building a bridge across the strait – running between two mountain ranges, creating a raging wind tunnel – have been unsuccessful. But Mr. Putin has put his weight on the back of the project, despite that and other technical challenges, including the seabed being covered by about 250 feet of fine silt due to silt from various rivers. accretion.
During World War II, an iceberg in the spring thawed over a German military bridge hastily built over the waters to support the Nazi war effort.
In 2018, when the new bridge was inaugurated, Putin hailed it as a “remarkable” achievement, he said, referring to a major city on the peninsula that “makes Crimea and Sevastopol legendary.” become stronger and we are all even closer to each other. “
But after that explosion at Saki . airport over Crimea in August, the bridge served a different purpose: It was a quick escape route when war hit the peninsula, with more than 38,000 cars passing by in a single day, the most on record since Putin announced the opening.
