This post provides an overview of Saturday’s, 8th October explosion on the Kerch Bridge in Crimea.
The video below uses satellite images to “reveal the creation of the Crimean Bridge from the very first pile to Putin's road-test” when it opened in 2018.
Speaking of Putin’s road-test, rumour has it that this lovely boy beat him to it.
“Mostik, the cat that beat Putin in the ceremonial first crossing of the $4B Russia-Crimea bridge.” via Reddit.
Below is The Guardian’s video of the aftermath of what was thought to have been a car bomb explosion at about 6am Saturday morning on the bridge spanning the Kerch Strait which ignited an oil tanker on the railway. In their description for the video, The Guardian, refers to the Kerch bridge as “a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula.”
For the record, the Kremlin did not “annex” Crimea. In February 2014 the US coup d’état in Ukraine overthrew the elected pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych with a bit of help from troops which included members of the Right Sector and the neo-Nazi Svoboda Party.
The people of Crimea held their own referendum, 16 March 2014 with international observers “from Israel, Spain, Italy, USA, UK, Latvia, Moldova and Serbia, which were invited by the Central Electoral Commission of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. They visited the largest cities of Crimea - Simferopol, Yalta, Evpatoria, Alushta, Saki, as well as many villages in the countryside.” Source
Even the BBC had to admit in their 16 March 2014 report following the referendum that “some 95.5% of voters in Crimea supported joining Russia, officials say, after half the votes have been counted.”
This is how Reuters reported Saturday’s explosion on the bridge.
A helicopter drops water to extinguish fuel tanks ablaze on the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, October 8, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The road-and-rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula was damaged in a powerful blast on Saturday, hitting a crucial supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine. Following are key facts about the bridge.
CRIMEA AND RUSSIA LINK
The 19-km (12-mile) Crimea Bridge over the Kerch Strait is the only direct link between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The bridge was a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened it himself for road traffic with great fanfare by driving a truck across in 2018.
It consists of a separate roadway and railway, both supported by concrete stilts, which give way to a wider span held by steel arches at the point where ships pass between the Black Sea and the smaller Azov Sea.
The structure was built, at a reported cost of $3.6 billion, by a firm belonging to Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally and former judo partner of Putin.
WHY IT MATTERS
The bridge is crucial for the supply of fuel, food and other products to Crimea, where the port of Sevastopol is the historic home base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
It also became a major supply route for Russian forces after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sending forces from Crimea to seize most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and some of the adjoining Zaporizhzhia province.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that those troops could be fully supplied by existing land and sea routes.
WHAT HAS BEEN DESTROYED
The blast on Saturday brought down sections of road taking traffic in one direction.
Traffic was initially suspended after the incident but by Saturday evening cars and buses were allowed to start crossing the bridge in alternating directions on the remaining intact lanes, while heavy goods vehicles waited to cross by ferry.
Russian officials said railway traffic would resume on Saturday evening.
The span through which ships pass the strait was not damaged.
I feel it’s pretty heinous that Reuters failed to mention that three civilians were killed as a result of the explosions. War propaganda apparently takes precedence.
This is Brian Berletic’s analysis of the explosion from Saturday, 8th October.
- Ukraine strike on Crimea Bridge complicates both civilian and military logistics to Crimea - the former more so than the latter;
- The bridge attack is likely to be followed by anticipated offensive operations by Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia toward Melitopol;
- The bridge attack + Melitopol offensive is meant to isolate Crimea;
- Ukraine's offensive will leave its forces overextended, depleted and vulnerable to Russian forces who have throughout the duration of Ukraine's offensives preserved their manpower and equipment;
🇺🇦✉️ oh no it wasn't a planned terrorist attack at all, our defunct post office is just that great that it was able to roll out a national stamp within hours.
*whispers* guys you forgot to remove the second explosion that we couldn't carry out.
You can read The Telegraph’s piece which they published at 1:40pm on Saturday, 8th October here.
- further repairs are required but road and rail traffic resumes;
- Western media notes the US is out of ammunition to send Ukraine and that US allies have even less;
- Nations like France have reached the limits of what they can send in terms of heavy weapons;
- Regional weather and subsequent mud is limiting the mobility of ground forces on both sides, giving the advantage to Russia which possess a larger air force, more drones, and long-range weapons indifferent to ground conditions;
- Ukrainian forces are losing ground in Bakhmut, indicating Ukrainian forces are already overextended
- a situation that will only worsen in time; - Russian forces are preserving their men and equipment and will soon be reinforced by an additional 300,000 troops;
iEarlGrey shared the following on his Telegram channel yesterday with a video:
Bastrykin reported to Putin on the situation with the Crimean Bridge.
"This is a terrorist attack that was prepared by the Ukrainian special services, and the purpose of this was the destruction of a large civilian infrastructure facility - There is no doubt about it, this is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying critical civilian infrastructure. And the authors, performers are the special services of Ukraine? - And Russian citizens and citizens of other foreign countries helped in the preparation of the terrorist attack - Thank you"
This is basically the unofficial video of the launch of the ATO.
I believe ATO is an abbreviation for Anti Terrorist Operation.
iEarlGrey posted the following on his Telegram channel Sunday evening:
[Forwarded from Intel Slava Z]
🇷🇺 Tomorrow there will be a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation with the participation of Putin.
Some sources write that supposedly there will be new personnel decisions (in addition to the recent appointment of General Surovikin as commander of the SMO) and a certain adjustment of the SMO itself.
I especially enjoyed the commemorative stamp. I don't know if it's a spoof or not but it's a good one.
Where's the off-ramp to armageddon?
Prep and pray.