The main bridge linking the Russian mainland to annexed Crimea was blown up in October 2022 using an improvised explosive device with a power equivalent to 10 tons of TNT, a Russian newspaper has reported.
Ukraine struck the 19-kilometer (nearly 12-mile) road and rail bridge on October 8, 2022 and again in July 2023. The bridge is crucial to sustaining Moscow's military offensives in southern Ukraine, and Kyiv has vowed future strikes on the structure as it seeks to recapture the peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Russian newspaper Kommersant said an investigation found that solid rocket fuel was concealed in reels of polyethylene film, which was detonated on the Kerch Strait Bridge.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed a group, led by Vasyl Maliuk, the head of Ukraine's SBU security service, to destroy the bridge, the investigation found.
"The group members, at an unspecified time, but no later than August 2022, presumably, on the territory of Ukraine, 'using industrially produced components, manufactured a high-explosive improvised explosive device (IED) with a capacity of about 10 tons of TNT'," Kommersant reported.
A hidden detonator was triggered by a GPS signal "at the moment of passing a predetermined route point."
The explosion caused two spans of the bridge to collapse, and resulted in damage to 17 freight-train tank wagons.
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment by email. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for strikes on the Crimean bridge.
Fears are growing among Russian military bloggers that Ukrainian forces are preparing to attack the Kerch Strait Bridge again.
The Rybar Telegram channel, which has links to Russia's Defense Ministry, said last week that Kyiv may have used U.S.-made ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) missiles to detect air defense systems and radars in preparation for another attack on the Black Sea peninsula.
The missiles, which are designed to distract and confuse enemy air defenses, are capable of mimicking a number of aircraft on radar screens.
Rybar said an attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge could happen before President Vladimir Putin's inauguration on May 7. The Russian leader secured his fifth term in office in March.
"Considering the love of the Ukrainian authorities and their curators for symbolism, the target once again may be the Crimean Bridge, the attention to which is very high," Rybar said.
In November, Maliuk said that Kyiv has "plenty of surprises" in store for the Kerch Strait Bridge.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
