Russians claim Crimean Bridge was attacked by 12 ATACMS missiles

The Russian Defence Ministry has claimed that the illegally constructed Crimean (Kerch) Bridge was attacked by 12 ATACMS missiles on the night of 15-16 August.

Source: Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti

Details: The Russian Defence Ministry claims that all the missiles were supposedly downed. However, the ministry, as usual, did not provide any evidence to support this statement.

Background:

• On the night of 15-16 August, the Russians reported that traffic on the Crimean Bridge was suspended, but it resumed just four hours later. Additionally, Telegram channels reported explosions in Chornomorske and Kamianka near Simferopol, as well as air-raid warnings and shooting in Feodosiia.
• Later, the Russian Defence Ministry said that several uncrewed surface vessels and drones attacked temporarily occupied Crimea on the night of 15-16 August.

For reference: Russia, which occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, subsequently illegally built a bridge across the Kerch Strait. The Crimean Bridge has two crossings (car and rail) connecting Crimea with Russia. 

Ukraine has repeatedly emphasised the illegality of this crossing and stated that it is a legitimate target for the armed forces.

There have been at least two successful attacks on the Crimean Bridge. The first attack on the Crimean Bridge took place on the morning of 8 October 2022, the day after Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday. It involved a truck with explosives wrapped in foil.

The next day, the Russian newspaper Medusa called the Crimean Bridge, which was damaged after the explosion on 8 October 2022, one of the most secure places in the world—it was allegedly protected from the ground, the sky, the sea, underwater, and even from space.

The second strike on the bridge was carried out by Ukraine on the night of 16-17 July 2023, with naval surface drones in an operation called, like the drones, Sea Baby.

Later, it became known that the Russians had installed barges south of the Crimean Bridge that were supposed to become "barricades" covering the bridge against Ukrainian naval drones.

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