Two people were killed and another injured on Monday, July 17th, in what Ukrainian security services, SBU, said was an attack carried out by its forces to disrupt the use of the Kerch Bridge, a strategic 19-kilometer bridge that connects the Crimean Peninsula to the mainland of the Russian Federation.
Russia’s Antiterrorism Committee asserted that Ukrainian special services—with the help of the U.S. and UK—carried out the attack last night, using unmanned drones on the water’s surface. The blasts appear to have caused considerable damage to one of the bridge sections, causing a partial collapse of a section of the roadway segment of the bridge, which trains travel on as well.
A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) confirmed to AFP on Monday that the attack was indeed carried out by the Ukrainian special services and naval forces using unmanned naval drones.
All traffic has been halted, while the trains continue to operate, according to various reports and video footage.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the western Russian region of Belgorod, said that the parents of a young girl died during the attack, and added that their 14-year-old daughter suffered injuries. They were driving on the bridge when the attack occurred.
The strikes are said to have been carried out around 3:00 a.m. local time.
“Tonight the terrorist regime in Kyiv committed a new crime—it attacked the Crimean bridge,” Vladimir Konstantinov, the head of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, said.
“The railroad track was not damaged by the strike,” Konstantinov claimed. Russia’s transport ministry further added that the bridge’s support columns were not damaged during the blasts.
Opened in 2018 following two years of construction, the Kerch Bridge—the longest bridge in Russia and in Europe—serves as a crucial artery that allows military equipment and personnel to flow from mainland Russia to the southern battlefront in Ukraine.
The attack on the bridge is the second of its kind in the past year. In October 2022, the bridge was partially closed after an explosion. Only days ago, on July 8th, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar admitted responsibility for the blast, saying that it had been targeted to “disrupt Russian logistics.”