Russia has stopped using the Crimean Bridge to transport military equipment to the front line and is instead using land routes in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine, The Independent reported. He refers to the Ukrainian organization Molfar, which analyzes the events at the front using, among other things, satellite images.
The bridge, also called the Kerch Bridge, connects the Russian mainland with the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula and has long been a key supply route for the Russian military in Ukraine. However, after Ukraine’s repeated attacks on the bridge, Moscow began to use other land routes to supply the front lines, according to The Independent website.
Images taken by Maxar satellite specialists, analyzed by the Molfar organization and provided to the website, show that almost no military cargo trains have been running even on the railway line on the bridge for more than three months. During this period, only a single Russian freight train was seen crossing the bridge on February 29, carrying approximately 55 fuel wagons.
The closure of the bridge at the beginning of this year is the result of the attack by Ukraine on July 17 last year. That’s when Ukrainian forces attacked it with drones and blew up part of the road and the railway line. Russia previously transported more than 40 trains carrying weapons over the bridge a day, said Vasyl Maliuk, the head of Ukraine’s security service.
The decision to stop using the Kerch Bridge to supply Russian forces is also related to the increase in freight traffic through Taman in Rostov Oblast, Molfar CEO Artem Starosiek told The Independent. Kyiv should now focus its attention on Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol, where Russia is laying new railway lines, he added.
The construction of the 19-kilometer-long bridge began after the illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea in 2014 and was completed in 2018. Already in October 2022, the bridge was heavily damaged during Ukrainian strikes.
Tags: Russia changing military supply routes Traffic Crimean Bridge minimal
