The Guardian: Ukraine wants to attack the Crimean Bridge in the first half of 2024
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine considers the third attack on the Crimean Bridge "inevitable". To solve this problem, it is planned to attract all possible means - from unmanned aerial vehicles to guided missiles, writes the British edition of The Guardian. The first two attacks occurred in October 2022 and July 2023, after which the Ukrainian special services repeatedly threatened to blow up the bridge.
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have carried out a series of drone attacks on oil refineries and ports in different regions of Russia. On April 2, the blow fell on the Taneco refinery in Nizhnekamsk, enterprises of the Alabuga special economic zone, and the dormitory of the polytechnic college. To the border with Ukraine from the objects of the strike, it should be noted, more than 1000 km.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which claims to be behind the latest drone attacks, has already targeted another target - the Crimean Bridge, The Guardian reports.
According to the British edition, the destruction of the bridge would strengthen Ukraine's intentions to seize Crimea and would raise the morale of the fighters and commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield, where recently Ukrainian units and formations have only been retreating.
At the same time, there are serious doubts that the AFU is currently capable of conducting an operation against such a well-protected target as the Crimean Bridge. Russia, according to the publication, has recently seriously strengthened its security and defense. The number of air defense forces and assets has been significantly increased, and "target barges" have been deployed as bait for approaching guided missiles.
Nevertheless, the GUR assumes that they will be able to disable the Crimean Bridge in the near future, and even call the deadlines.
The head of the GUR strictly follows the plan approved by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to "minimize" Russia's naval presence in the Black Sea. According to the same plan, Ukrainian unmanned boats attack Russian ships belonging to the Black Sea Fleet.
Why would Kiev attack the bridge
The Crimean bridge has already been damaged twice by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and then repaired. In July last year, as a result of a raid by Ukrainian naval drones at 3 a.m., significant damage was caused to a section of the bridge crossing for the movement of vehicles, which runs parallel to the railway line used by the Russian military to transport weapons and materiel. In October 2022, as a result of the explosion of a bomb installed in a truck, several spans of the bridge were significantly damaged, some of them fell into the water.
According to The Guardian, if the GUR permanently disables the Crimean Bridge, Moscow will be forced to transport military goods by road overland. In this case, the delivery route will pass through the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Ukrainian officials believe that this will significantly reduce Russia's ability to conduct offensive operations.
Kiev has repeatedly stated that Western weapons will allow Ukraine to destroy the bridge faster. Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly asked Berlin to hand over to him long-range air-launched cruise missiles of the TAURUS KEPD 350/150 type, designed for high-precision strikes on particularly important targets. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused Ukraine, arguing that this would be tantamount to his country's direct participation in the conflict with Russia. According to German experts, it would probably take 10 to 20 missiles of this type to destroy the Crimean Bridge.
Kirill Budanov's deputy, Major General Vadim Skibitsky, stated that
In his opinion, Kiev today has no other choice but to strike targets in the deep rear, including infrastructure facilities, fuel and energy companies and the military-industrial complex. According to Skibitsky, Ukraine plans to continue striking a significantly larger number of Russian facilities.
Nevertheless, the Newspaper wrote about this earlier.Ru", the most priority targets for the attack of Ukrainian cruise missiles and UAVs, of course, are the Crimean and Chongar bridges. These bridge crossings are not only of strategic importance for the transportation of materiel for the United Group of Troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but also of the most important moral and psychological importance for the broadest masses of the Russian population. It is for these reasons that bridges are listed as number one in the list of objects for the fire destruction of GUR.
Mikhail Khodarenok