Ukrainian Navy and SBU launch daring assault on Crimean bridge

The Ukrainian navy and SBU security service carried out an overnight attack on the Russian-built bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia, a Ukrainian source told AFP Monday.

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“Today’s attack on the Crimean bridge is a special operation of the SBU and the navy,” the security service source said.

The strike was carried out using waterborne drones, according to the same source.

“It was difficult to reach the bridge, but in the end it was possible to do it,” the source said.

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The Kerch bridge, which links Russia to Crimea, serves as a vital link for transporting supplies to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

CRIMEA BRIDGE

The Russian-built bridge was already partially destroyed in a truck bomb attack in October 2022, blamed by Moscow on Ukraine but denied by Kyiv.

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“Any illegal structures used to deliver Russian instruments of mass murder are necessarily short-lived,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter in a seeming allusion to the bridge attack.

“The bridge has gone to sleep again”, the SBU said on Telegram in an apparent reference to the latest strike against the link to Crimea.

In written comments to AFP, SBU spokesman Artem Dekhtiarenko said Ukrainian intelligence services were following the aftermath.

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“We are watching with interest as one of the symbols of Putin’s regime once again failed to withstand the military load,” he said.

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