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Russia’s armed forces are reportedly reinforcing the only bridge linking the country to Crimea, in an increasingly desperate effort to protect the vital logistics route against Ukrainian attacks on Moscow’s military infrastructure around the Black Sea.
The British Ministry of Defense said that “Russia is employing a range of passive defenses such as smoke generators and underwater barriers, alongside active defense measures such as air defense systems,” according to the latest U.K. war intelligence update released Friday.
The Russian move is designed to “strengthen the survivability” of the 19-kilometer Crimean bridge — Europe’s longest — and also protect ferries carrying troops and weapons into Ukraine, according to the assessment.
According to U.K. intelligence, satellite imagery shows that since August 29, an underwater barrier has been created using sunken ships to block sea drones. Just a fortnight ago, Kyiv’s forces said they had used the uncrewed vessels to strike the Crimean bridge, doing significant damage to its structure.
“We are working on a number of new interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters,” Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency, said at the time. “I promise you, it’ll be exciting, especially for our enemies,” he said.
Moscow is heavily reliant on the rail and road link across the strategic Kerch Strait to supply its troops fighting on the front lines in the south and east of Ukraine. The link is also a symbol of Russian control over the occupied Ukrainian peninsula, opened by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 — four years after Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Last month, following a series of explosions at a Russian air base in the region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow’s war on his country “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea,” vowing to liberate the Black Sea peninsula.
