Drone wreckage rains on Crimean bridge, halts traffic for hours
Traffic on the Crimean Bridge, which connects the occupied Ukrainian peninsula with mainland Russia, was blocked for almost three hours by debris from an allegedly downed drone, local Telegram channels reported early on June 3.
The incident took place around 6 a.m. EET. Despite the air defense operation, traffic was still on the bridge when the drone debris fell directly onto it.
No one was reportedly injured.
Ukraine's attacks on the Crimean Bridge
Ukraine’s SBU Security Service first attacked the Crimean Bridge on Oct. 8, 2022. After a truck explosion, two half-sections of the road part of the bridge collapsed, and the railroad tracks were also damaged.
The Kremlin regime later accused Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, of organizing the sabotage. Military intelligence denied these statements, calling them "nonsense."
Russia announced on May 5, 2023, that it had fully restored the destroyed part of the bridge. On July 8, 2023, then-Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar confirmed that Ukraine was behind the explosion on the bridge.
The SBU attacked the Crimean Bridge again on July 17, 2023, using Sea Baby drones. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin admitted that one span of the road part of the Crimean Bridge could not be restored.
After Ukraine's successful attacks, the Russian occupation authorities additionally fenced the Crimean Bridge with "special anti-sabotage boom barriers" that can allegedly protect the structure from surface and underwater drones.
In February 2024, Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neyizhpapa said he was convinced that the Crimean Bridge would be destroyed by the end of the year.
Subsequently, spymaster Budanov hinted that Ukraine would continue to strike Russian targets in temporarily occupied Crimea and advised civilians "not to use the bridge."
In March, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service, Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk, said Ukraine had the potential to completely destroy the Crimean Bridge, but “all in good time.”
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