BILD: Ukrainian Defense Forces Preparing To Strike Crimean Bridge Again

A German analyst has named the key signs.

The Ukrainian Defense Forces are preparing for a new strike on the Kerch Bridge in occupied Crimea. This is the conclusion reached by Julian Röpcke, an analyst for the German publication BILD.

The analyst notes that last week the Defense Forces attacked the Russian ferries Avangard and Conro Trader in Crimea. Russia claims that Ukraine used Western weapons to strike them — ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles. However, the Russian air defense system missed them.

One of the two ferries sank, the other was seriously damaged. Both ferries, as Julian Röpcke notes, have been sailing between Russia and the annexed peninsula for many years.

In 2018, when the Crimean Bridge was opened, the need for their use disappeared, but it arose again after the Defense Forces hit the railway section of the crossing in October 2022 and put it out of action for several weeks.

“The attack on the ferries may be a sign of a new attack being prepared on the Crimean Bridge. According to this version, Ukraine wants to make sure that Russia cannot immediately rely on ferries again as a replacement for the railway route across the Kerch Strait. At the same time, it remains unclear when and how the Ukrainian military intends to attack the Crimean Bridge again. Previously, a mined car and a surface drone were used for this purpose,” the publication writes, taking into account the opinions of military observers.