Russia’s Kerch Strait Bridge Closed After Major Incident

Kerch Bridge Russia

The Kerch Bridge, connecting Russia and the Crimean Peninsula has been closed after an incident in which portions of the bridge were damaged, according to Russian officials. Those officials are not saying what caused the damage, but Russian Telegram channels say the bridge was attacked by Ukraine.

If true, that would mark the second time since October that Vladimir Putin’s prized $4 billion span has been attacked. The bridge was previously struck in October.

Warning to readers, some of the video is very graphic:

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1680764975168602113?s=12u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1680757118696058881?s=12u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A https://twitter.com/yoshkinkrot/status/1680755782386679812

“Traffic was stopped on the Crimean Bridge,” occupation governor Sergei Aksenov said on his Telegram channel. “An emergency occurred in the area of ​​​​the 145th support from the Krasnodar Territory. Law enforcement agencies and all responsible services are working.”

“Measures are being taken to restore the situation,” Aksenov said.

“Given the current situation, I ask residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from traveling through the Crimean bridge and, for security reasons, choose an alternative land route through new regions,” said Aksenov.

On the Crimean bridge from the Krasnodar Territory, an “emergency incident” occurred, said the head of the Crimea, Aksenov. Traffic on the bridge has been stopped, Russian media writes that the span of the bridge fell, as a result, at least two people died, one was injured. pic.twitter.com/uTW8IMybIp

— Informer (@X_Informer_X) July 17, 2023

The Ministry of Transport “denied information about damage to the supports of the Crimean bridge,” the official Russian TASS news agency reported on its Telegram channel. ”There is damage to the roadbed on the spans from the Crimea, the ministry said.”

That ministry also reported that due to the closure of traffic on the Kerch Bridge, drivers can travel along the land road route in the “new regions” of Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry’s TV Zvezda reported, a reference to the seized territories annexed by Moscow that create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea. Ukraine is working to sever it as part of its ongoing counteroffensive.

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Russian Media is urging Residents to take the “Land-Bridge” Route if they are planning a Trip soon to or from the Crimean Peninsula. pic.twitter.com/WeiF6sdyMf

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 17, 2023

In addition, Zvezda reported that one of its correspondents saw a train from Crimea to Moscow stopped in front of the bridge. Meanwhile, “railway transport employees told our correspondent that traffic is still limited only on the automobile part of the bridge, there were no such instructions for the railway.”

Popular Russian military-related Telegram channels are taking a much more blunt tone, although their claims cannot be confirmed at this time.

The bridge was struck twice by “the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” once at 3:04 a.m. and again at 3:20 a.m. according to the Grey Zone Telegram channel.

One span collapsed and another came off its support, Grey Zone reported, adding that two people were killed and a child was injured.

Grey Zone posted videos it said showed “at least one collapsed bridge span and an injured civilian vehicle with people inside.”

🚨 BREAKING: At least one bridge span has collapsed on the Kerch Bridge after an apparent missile strike by Ukraine. All traffic stopped. 5am currently. The bridge connects occupied Crimea and Russia. pic.twitter.com/OL9q0cfycI

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) July 17, 2023

“Traffic is blocked at the moment,” Grey Zone reported. “The crossing also does not work. People are turned back. An air raid alert sounds. The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, announced an emergency.”

The Two Majors Telegram channel claimed that the attack was carried out by small, unmanned surface vessels.

“Preliminarily, the nature of the incident indicates the use by the enemy of small unmanned swimming facilities to undermine the pillars of the Crimean Bridge,” Two Majors reported.

Once again, none of these claims can be confirmed at this time, or if the bridge was even attacked or suffered some sort of catastrophic structural failure. It also isn’t clear if the damage occurred at the same area that was recently repaired following the October attack.

At this point, the information is all preliminary. But one thing is certain, something occurred on the bridge that has drastically limited its use at this time.

We will update this story when more information is provided.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com