Ukraine regards the Crimean Bridge – the largest structure of its kind in Europe – linking the Russian mainland with the occupied peninsula as a legitimate military target that should be destroyed, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has warned on Tuesday.
Explaining why Kyiv wants to attack the bridge, Mikhail Podolyak noted that on top of being an illegal construction, it is also the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea.
Moscow constructed the bridge after Crimea broke away from Ukraine and voted in a referendum to join Russia following the 2014 armed coup, creating a direct road and rail connection with the region previously accessible to the rest of Russia only by sea or air. The bridge is predominantly used by civilian traffic.
Podolyak’s remark once again confirms Kyiv’s intention to attack the bridge predominantly used by civilian traffic at a time when Ukrainian troops seem to be in the process of delivering a series of sabotage acts in Crimea.
Since last week, powerful explosions rocked two Russian military sites used to store ammunition and many Ukrainian officials hinted Kyiv was behind the attacks though it has not formally claimed credit.
Podolyak, on the other hand, called the purported clandestine attacks a different kind of counteroffensive, predicting more incidents of this kind in the next months though he previously last week said that “all public statements” by Ukrainian officials were “psychological warfare” aimed at demoralizing the Russian army.