The Kerch bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula was once a symbol of Russian dominance, unveiled with great fanfare following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. But an explosion overnight from October 7 to 8 partially destroyed the bridge, marking the latest setback for Russian objectives in the region.
CCTV footage posted on social networks showed a powerful explosion as several vehicles drove over the bridge, including a large truck that Russian authorities suspect was the reason behind the explosion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the explosion a “terrorist attack” and blamed Ukraine’s secret services. Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility.
“There is no doubt that this is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said at a meeting with the chairman of Russia's Investigative Committee, which is looking into the bridge blast. “The authors, performers, and customers are the secret services of Ukraine.”
Russia on Monday launched a series of coordinated strikes against Ukrainian cities including Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and, for the first time in months, the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The new offensive came as Putin called a meeting with his security council for later on Monday to discuss the attack on the bridge.
The Kerch attack crowns a series of recent setbacks engulfing Russian war efforts in Ukraine, notably Ukrainian advances on the southeastern front near Kherson and the recapture of most of Kharkiv Oblast in the northeast and the city of Lyman in the east.
The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge, the longest in Europe, has been instrumental in supplying Russian troops and arms to staging areas in the Crimean Peninsula. It has also played a major role supplying the southern front as the battle for the city of Kherson looms.
Beyond its strategic value, the Kerch bridge has been a source of Russian pride and was inaugurated in May 2018 by Putin himself, who drove a truck across it at its official opening.
Exasperated Russian elites
According to Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have liberated more than 400 square kilometres from Russian control on several fronts in recent days. Videos on social media show Russian soldiers surrendering even without a fight.
Russian elites are increasingly criticising the conduct of the war and are becoming increasingly vocal against Kremlin advisers and the ministry of defence.
Russian commentators have taken aim at shortfalls in equipment and the lack of training for newly deployed soldiers following the Kremlin’s recent decision to mobilise 300,000 reservists. Even some of the most ardent propagandists are concerned about the state of disrepair of some Russian units.
"I am tired of receiving messages that troops must buy their own equipment with their own money. Why should a deployed soldier, a hero, have to buy what he needs?" a well-known TV presenter and propagandist, Vladimir Sololyov, recently raged.
Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov blasted military command while a senior parliamentary official, Andrei Kartapolov, called on Telegram for the army to "stop lying" about its defeats.
New Russian command
In a sign of discontent at the higher echelons of government, Moscow announced on Saturday that it had appointed a new man, General Sergei Surovikin, to head its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
A veteran of the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s, the second Chechen war in the 2000s and the Russian intervention in Syria launched in 2015, Surovikin formerly led Russia’s southern forces in Ukraine, according to a Russian ministry report from July.
According to RFI (Radio France Internationale), Surovikin has been nicknamed "Armageddon, for his tendency to use missiles against civilian infrastructure".
Russian authorities have tried to downplay the damage to the Kerch Bridge and say that rail and road traffic has since been able to resume. "All scheduled trains will run," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Sunday, according to Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency.
Crimean authorities announced Saturday that traffic had resumed for cars and buses on the only lane of the bridge that remained intact. Ferries are also making the crossing, notably to transport heavy vehicles.
This article was translated from the original in French.
