Published specification Ukraine threatens to destroy Crimean bridge
06/17/2022, 08:17
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and then built a bridge as a direct connection. Now, the Ukrainian military intelligence service is releasing the alleged official Russian build specification – and using it as a threat.
In its defensive fight against Russia, Ukraine also sees the important Russian bridge to the Crimean Peninsula as a military target. As a sort of threatening gesture, the Ukrainian military intelligence service published an alleged official Russian specification of the bridge with construction details. The authenticity of the nearly 300-page document cannot be immediately verified.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian General Dmytro Marchenko said that if Ukraine received the necessary weapons, destroying the bridge would be “goal #1”. Finally, Russian supplies pass over the bridge to Crimea and from there to southern Ukraine. The 18-kilometer bridge over the Kerch Strait, built at a cost of billions, connects mainland Russia and the peninsula annexed four years earlier since 2018.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Peskov stressed that all precautions were taken to ensure Crimea’s security. The Kremlin is aware of Kyiv’s new threats against the bridge. There were already threats from Moscow to bomb the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the event of an attack on the building.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Marchenko’s threat contradicted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s promises to Western partners. He had promised not to use long-range weapons to attack Russian territory. However, Ukraine continues to consider Crimea as its territory.
In an interview, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov also linked the expected reconquest of areas to arms deliveries from abroad. “We will liberate all our territories, really all of them, including Crimea,” he told US broadcaster CNN in Brussels. But first the ongoing Russian attack had to be stopped.
Then it is a question of expelling Russian troops from the areas conquered since February 24th. Third, discussions will be held with partners on how other territories, including Crimea, can be reconquered. Other Ukrainian military personnel had recently declared that it was impossible to destroy the bridge because their own troops were too far from the Sea of Azov.