That is the second time the bridge has been attacked within the struggle, highlighting its strategic significance to each Ukraine and Russia. In October, a large fireball ripped throughout the bridge after a truck exploded, igniting the gas tanks of a passing prepare; the bridge was considerably broken, resulting in months of restore work. A Ukrainian official instructed The Washington Put up in October that the explosion was orchestrated by Ukraine’s particular forces.
The bridge, just like the Crimean peninsula itself, has symbolic and strategic worth to Russia, serving as an emblem of identification and energy — on high of being a logistical and navy asset. Right here’s what you’ll want to know in regards to the bridge:
What’s the Crimean Bridge?
The Crimean Bridge, often known as the Kerch Bridge, is a 12-mile, $3.7 billion infrastructure mission with two parallel tracks: one four-lane highway for site visitors and a two-lane rail line. The construction connects mainland Russia to Crimea, a peninsula that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It’s the longest bridge in Europe.
Crimea, which juts out of the southern a part of mainland Ukraine between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is dwelling to 2 million individuals. After invading and annexing the peninsula, Moscow held a extensively disputed referendum on the territory’s standing, claiming that an amazing majority of residents wished to affix Russia. A lot of the world nonetheless sees Crimea as a part of Ukraine, with just a few international locations recognizing Moscow’s sovereignty over it.
Russia used Crimea as a southern staging floor for its invasion of Ukraine. Management of the peninsula additionally allowed Russia to hold out its wartime naval blockade.
The bridge was considered as a marquee infrastructure mission for Putin. It additionally affords a driving path to the Crimean peninsula, which is a fashionable summer time trip spot for Russian vacationers who loosen up at resorts and on seashores alongside the Black Sea — all whereas staying inside Russia’s self-declared borders. Monday’s assault occurred on the peak of the vacation season.
The place is the Kerch bridge positioned?
The Kerch bridge connects Crimea — which shares a land border with Ukraine’s southern Kherson area — and Russia’s southwestern Taman peninsula.
One acknowledged and achieved objective of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is to create a “land bridge” from Russia to Crimea by illegally occupying and annexing 4 Ukrainian areas — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — on Ukraine’s southeast border.
What’s the historical past of the bridge that hyperlinks Russia and Crimea?
The bridge is seen as a private pet mission of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who inaugurated the bridge in 2018 in a made-for-television ceremony that acquired wall-to-wall protection on Russian state media. Putin drove an orange Kamaz truck flying Russian flags throughout the bridge, and referred to as the finished mission a “miracle.”
“In numerous historic epochs, even beneath the czar monks, individuals dreamed of constructing this bridge,” Putin declared on the opening ceremony.
Many Western nations instantly condemned the development of the bridge, which they noticed as an additional violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
In 2016, the State Division put sanctions on corporations concerned within the development of the bridge and different associated people. Putin had tapped a longtime buddy and judo accomplice, Arkady Rotenberg, to supervise its expensive development.
Why is the bridge essential to Russia?
The bridge, and Crimea itself, has lengthy been a grey zone and flash level for Russia and Ukraine — a situation that has solely been aggravated throughout the struggle. Ukraine has made disrupting the land bridge a main objective of its counteroffensive.
Strategically and militarily, the bridge is important for the Kremlin. The bridge was for years Russia’s solely highway and rail hyperlink to occupied Crimea — a undeniable fact that solely modified after Russian forces invaded southeastern Ukrainian territory. The bridge has additionally served as a key navy provide route, permitting Russian forces to provide bases within the occupied territories.
The bridge can also be personally essential to Putin and the Kremlin. It symbolizes Putin’s capability to ship on main infrastructure initiatives and his goals of restoring Russia to its former greatness. Crucially, it’s also emblematic of Russia’s ambitions to regulate Ukraine and to solidify its declare to Crimea.
Mary Ilyushina, Robyn Dixon and Adam Taylor contributed to this report.
