FOG BLOG WORLD LOG: IMPORTANT LINK FOR RUSSIA, CRIMEA BRIDGE DAMAGED BY DRONES RUSSIA BLAMES UKRAINE

Did Killer Sea Drones Just Blow Up Putin’s Beloved Bridge? The only bridge linking Russia to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was damaged by explosions on Monday in an act that Russian officials quickly blamed on Kyiv.

Traffic was halted across the 12-mile bridge over the Kerch Strait in the wake of the blasts in the early hours. Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) released a statement on Monday calling the incident a “terrorist attack” conducted by Ukraine’s fleet of marine drones and said a criminal case has been launched. They said two people were killed. “At 03:05, two Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles attacked the Crimean Bridge,” the NAC said. “As a result of the committed terrorist act, the road component of the Crimean bridge was damaged. Two adults were killed and one child was injured.”

The Baza telegram account shared videos appearing to show the damage to the bridge, with part of the closed roadway precariously tilting toward the water below.

It added that emergency services were at the scene and that the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a case under national terror legislation.

Ukraine has yet to officially comment on the explosions, which could severely hamper Russia’s logistical links to Crimea, which has served as a major military hub for the invasion.

“Today’s attack on the Crimean bridge is a special operation of the SBU and the navy,” a Ukrainian security service source told the French news agency AFP. They said it was carried out by marine drones. “It was difficult to reach the bridge, but in the end it was possible to do it.”

“The bridge has gone to sleep again,” the SBU Telegram account posted.

As well as holding crucial strategic significance as a supply for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, the bridge is similarly important as a symbol of his hold over the region. Following the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin ordered the construction of the bridge—the longest in Europe—to permanently cement the link between the seized peninsula and Russia’s mainland. He personally drove a truck over the bridge at its completion in 2018 and echoed the propaganda stunt by driving a Mercedes across it in December as repairs from the October blast were still underway.