Crimea Bridge linking Russia and Crimea hit by underwater explosives, claims Ukraine

A road and rail bridge that links Russia and the Crimean peninsula has been hit below water level with explosives, according to Ukraine's SBU security services.

1,100 kilogrammes of explosives were detonated, damaging the bridge's underwater pillars, the SBU said in a statement, with the bridge a key supply route for Russian forces in the past.

The Crimea Bridge, which covers the Kerch Strait, is the only direct line between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

• Tenfold increase in UK drone deliveries for Ukraine in wake of strike on Russian airbases
• Charity brings football to the heart of rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers injured in war
• Ukraine braced for summer offensive as Russia prepares hardware for hard fighting

A flagship project for Russian president Vladimir Putin, the bridge consists of a separate roadway and railway, which is supported by concrete stilts.

These then give way to a wider span held by steel arches where ships pass between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.

"Previously, we hit the Crimean Bridge twice, in 2022 and 2023. So today we continued this tradition underwater," the SBU said in its statement.

The SBU added that the operation had been prepared over several months.

Video footage of the explosion was shared by the SBU, with Reuters confirming the location from the structure and bearing elements of the bridge that matched satellite and file imagery of the area.

The news agency could not, however, confirm when the footage was taken.

As a result of the attack, the bridge was temporarily closed, the official Russian outlet which provides status on the bridge confirmed, between 04:00 and 07:00 local time. 

Despite giving no reason for the closure, it did say the bridge had been reopened and was functioning as normal.

Russian military bloggers said the attack had been unsuccessful and speculated that it had been carried out by a Ukrainian sea drone.

The Crimea Bridge was previously used by Russian forces during their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with personnel crossing it to reach Crimea before going on to seize parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson and south-eastern Zaporizhzhia regions.

The attack on the bridge comes after Ukraine launched drones in an operation codenamed Spider's Web to attack Russian nuclear-capable long-range bomber planes at distant airfields across Russia.