The explosion on the Crimean bridge comes at a bad time for Kremlin warmonger Putin. The connecting bridge is a strategically important supply route. But not only.
Many questions still have no reliable answer, but one thing can already be said: The fire on the Crimean bridge is of great symbolic power – and could still cause problems for both Vladimir Putin and the Russian military.
What happened? A detonation caused massive damage to the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland with the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea annexed by Moscow. Parts of the highway are in the sea, and the adjacent train route was also damaged. As a result of the explosion the connecting bridge caught fire. The fire has since been extinguished, the Russian Ministry of Civil Protection said. Traffic across the bridge has been halted. Read more about the events of Saturday morning here.
The blast came a day after Putin’s (sad) 70th birthday and amid growing criticism of his conduct of the war, which has recently resulted in a series of devastating setbacks for the Russian army.
Now the explosion on the Crimean bridge. Ukraine had repeatedly announced that the Black Sea Peninsula would also be occupied to recapture and a shelling of the bridge systems in view, but both originator and cause of the incident are still unclear.
Regardless of whether the explosion was actually due to a Ukrainian attack or an act of sabotage: With the Crimean bridge, one of Putin’s prestige projects also went up in flames, and it is also of great strategic importance.
The Crimean Bridge, a strategic hub with symbolic power
The Kerch Strait Bridge is the only military supply route connecting mainland Russia to Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. It therefore plays a key role in supplying the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, especially in the south of the country, where fighting has recently intensified.
Last week, Ukrainian forces stepped up their counter-offensives in the region and recaptured significant amounts of land from Russian occupiers. Consequently, Russian military traffic had increased over the important connecting bridge, reported the “New York Times”to supply the forces in embattled Cherson with tanks and artillery shells.
Against this background, military analyst and retired General Mick Ryan believes the Russians face “a significant problem”. The damaged bridge does not stop supplies to Crimea, there is still a waterway and a route through Melitopol, “but it makes it even more important for the Russians to hold Melitopol,” Ryan commented on the events on Twitter.
The occupied Melitopol is also considered an important supply route for the Russian armed forces – and is fought over. Last had the Ukraine destroyed a large military base in the city. There is speculation that Ukraine is planning a major counter-offensive here as well.
“The bridge is an important channel for Russian supplies in Ukraine and a great source of Putin’s prestige,” meanwhile ordered Max Seddon, Moscow Bureau Chief of the Financial Times, the incident. “This is an enormously damaging blow.”
He posted a map on Twitter that he says illustrates “what a disaster the loss of the bridge is to the Russian war effort.” According to Seddon, the Russian army only has a large land connection to supply troops in Cherson and Zaporizhia – which are already withdrawing there in the face of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“Crimea. The Bridge. The Beginning”
The occupation authorities in Crimea announced that they would ensure traffic via ferries and via the land corridor last occupied in Ukraine. There were no threats of supply bottlenecks, according to the Crimean capital Simferopol. Crimean parliament leader Vladimir Konstantinov said the bridge was damaged by “Ukrainian vandals”.
So far there has been no commitment from the Ukrainian side to an attack on the bridge, but there have been a number of triumphant and malicious comments.
- “Crimea. The bridge. The beginning,” wrote the adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoliak, on Twitter. “Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine.”
- The head of the Ukrainian Post Office, Ihor Smylyanskyj, even announced that a commemorative stamp would be printed from the bridge. “The morning has never been so beautiful. For this holiday we are releasing a new stamp with the Crimean Bridge – or rather what is left of it.”
Earlier, the Ukrainian postal service issued a stamp of the destroyed cruiser Moskva of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was considered a heavy and symbolic blow against the invaders. The fire on the Crimean bridge is likely to surpass the sinking of the flagship in terms of symbolic power.
The 19-kilometer-long structure was personally inaugurated in May 2018 by Kremlin boss Putin, who at the time demonstratively drove over the new bridge in a truck at the head of a convoy of vehicles. Four years earlier, Russia had annexed Crimea. In December 2019, the rail connection across the bridge was inaugurated – also by Putin personally.
Thus, the bridge is also a symbol of the annexation of Crimea – and the explosion a direct “hit in the heart of Vladimir Putin’s prestige”, says Andrew Roth, Moscow correspondent of the “Guardian”. “He (Putin) went to war to take Kyiv, only to find he couldn’t even protect Crimea.”
The leadership in Moscow has always emphasized that the bridge is safe despite the military offensive in Ukraine – probably also against the background that there have been several explosions in Crimea with serious damage, including at military bases.
The Ukrainian attacks had fueled fears among Crimean residents and tourists who had not previously seen the war unfold directly. Last but not least, the pictures of panicked beach holidaymakers fleeing ran counter to Russian propaganda, according to which the “special military operation” – as the war in Russia has to be called – is proceeding strictly according to plan.
Here is a stern analysis of the explosions in Crimea:
How will Russia react now? The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasized that an attack on the Crimean Bridge is a clear crossing of the red line and has threatened attacks on the command centers in Kyiv.
Dissatisfaction is already growing among pro-Kremlin war advocates who, under the impression of several failures for Russia, are calling for far-reaching consequences. President Putin first ordered the establishment of a commission to uncover the background to the incident.
Sources: “The Guardians”, CNN, “New York Times”, BBCwith material from the news agencies DPA and AFP