The Crimea bridge once hailed "impossible to attack" due to its "military dolphin" guards and robust defence systems is currently ablaze and crumbling into the sea.
In the early hours of this morning, a massive fire erupted on the strategic Kerch bridge, which links Russia to its illegally annexed territory of Crimea.
The bridge's destruction is a major blow, both symbolically and tactically, as it is the main route used to supply Russian soldiers to the front lines in southern Ukraine.
Amid concerns that Ukraine could deliver a tactical strike at the strategic runway, Putin's propagandist cronies shared a report claiming it was indestructible, or even impossible to attack.
Referencing the reports, New Lines Institute Fellow Elizabeth Tsurkove wrote on Twitter today: "Only 3 months ago, Russian propaganda was claiming that the Crimea bridge was impossible to attack because of 20 different modes of protection covering it, including military dolphins (#17) [...] What a colossal failure."
Among the 20 different so-called "protection modes" are defence systems that can produce a 400km-diameter protective dome, or an underwater sound signal that increases to the "pain threshold" if the swimmer doesn't turn around, KP.ru reports.
On land, agents from Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs guard the bridge, while the Black Sea Fleet and the FSB coast guards protect from the waves on well-armed boats equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and grenade launchers, the report adds.
And the bridge's most bizarre line of defence is below the waves. According to a graphic of the system, the Kremlin has military-trained dolphins on hand to deter any would-be attackers.
But these lines of defence didn't protect the bridge today.
Though Ukraine has not confirmed its invovlement, one comment from the Ministry of Defence suggested Ukraine may have been involved.
The government department wrote: "The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge – two notorious symbols of russian power in Ukrainian Crimea – have gone down. What’s next in line, russkies?"
The blast comes days after a US official claimed that Ukraine could retake the region as Russia continues to flounder in its war.
Widespread images on social media show the bridge in the Kerch strait linking Russia with Crimea ferociously ablaze.
One video shows that a road section of the bridge has completely given way and collapsed into the sea while a freight train appears to be stationary and ablaze on the rail part of the key link between Russia and the Crimea that was opened in 2018.
Residents in the area have reported hearing powerful explosions at around 6am local time on Saturday morning.
A train on the bridge caught fire, according to a Crimean official, reported the TASS agency.
Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of Crimea, said that a fuel tank has caught fire on one of the sections of the Crimean bridge and that the shipping arches are not damaged.
“Preliminarily, a fuel tank is on fire in one of the sections. The shipping arches are not damaged. It’s too early to talk about the causes and consequences. Work is underway to extinguish the fire,” Kryuchkov wrote in his Telegram channel.
Traffic over the Crimean bridge has been stopped by the Russian authorities, TASS added.
