Ukrainians make no secret of new goal: “We want to destroy them in the first half of this year”

Ukraine plans to destroy the Crimean bridge strategically important for Russia in the short term. This is what an official of the Ukrainian secret service tells us They Guardian.

“We will make the bridge unusable in the first half of 2024, that is inevitable,” the same source told the British newspaper. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the secret service, reportedly already has most of the resources to destroy the bridge. The plan is also said to have been approved by Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.

Russia has taken several measures in the past to secure the Crimean Bridge. In July 2023, Zelensky declared that the bridge was a target for Ukraine. According to him, the Kremlin uses them to transport weapons. If the bridge is destroyed, Russia would have to resupply its soldiers by road in occupied southern Ukraine.

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The bridge connecting Russia to the annexed peninsula was severely damaged last summer after a Ukrainian attack on July 17. In retaliation, Russia then carried out attacks on the port of Odessa and the city of Mikolaiv for days. An attack also took place on the bridge in October 2022, in which a truck exploded and several parts of the bridge ended up in the water.

Two Russian ships hit again

Today, the Crimean Bridge was closed several times to all traffic after the Ukrainian army said it hit two more Russian ships in an attack on the port city of Sevastopol, in Russia’s illegally annexed Crimea. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to hit the amphibious ships Yamal and Azov, as well as a communications center and other infrastructure of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces Communications Center reported.

Earlier in the night, the Russians themselves also reported about Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean peninsula they occupy. Ten rockets were reportedly intercepted, but the attacks on Sevastopol also reportedly left one person dead and four people injured.