Military Expert Shares Consequences Of Explosions On Crimean Bridge

Russian military logistics has suffered a painful blow.

There were explosions on the Crimean bridge early this morning. Eyewitnesses say that smoke rose above the bridge and that a strong cracking sound was heard. Traffic on the bridge was temporarily suspended.

Charter97.org asked Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko to comment on the causes and circumstances of the incident.

- Let's start with the basics. To date, no official structure in Ukraine, no official authorized to make such statements, has confirmed that it was a strike and that Ukraine was involved. Therefore, it is not quite correct to speak in this context, and it is no respect to ourselves to believe Russian propaganda.

On the whole, if we look at the incident this morning, we do not see any holes in the Crimean bridge that could have come from a missile, for example. There is no impact from any particular airborne means of defeat. It is possible that in this case no missiles were used. On the other hand, knowing the laws of physics, we understand very well that the explosion was not airborne, given the damage to the bridge.

If there was no impact from an airborne object, and if there was no explosion above the surface that damaged the bridge, then it was most likely something that damaged it from below.

- What could it be?

- A gas cylinder could explode under a bridge or other object. What could it be? In this case, we don't have enough information to fully assess the image, although there are a lot of different objects floating around in the Black Sea right now. Some of them have been captured on video and published in open sources.

- What are the consequences of this explosion on the Crimean bridge for the Russian army?

- The damage is quite serious; its use in the near future is doubtful. Certainly, it will require repairs. It turns out that only one line will be used in reverse format, which complicates the flow of cargo.

But that is the point, the Russian Army uses railroads mainly for cargo transportation. The railroad on the Crimean bridge is not yet fully operational, only a branch in reverse format. They will try to compensate for the problems that the Russian army may have in moving by road with the additional load on the railroad. And it is already under serious strain at the Crimean bridge, so the Russians will most likely reduce the civilian part, reduce civilian transportation in favor of the army type.

There will be an additional burden on logistics, inconvenience, but given that one branch of the railroad is still working, it is not a critical effect. It is painful, problematic. It certainly causes inconvenience for their logistics, but the problem is still solvable. For example, if two spans collapsed, that would be great. It would be great because the load on the railroad would increase so much that it would simply not be able to handle one track.

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