Ukrainian diplomat issues Crimean Bridge threat
Ukraine’s envoy to the UN, Sergey Kislitsa, has issued a threat against Russia’s Crimean Bridge, implying that the structure will not be standing by the end of the year.
Senior officials in Kiev have declared the destruction of the bridge as a priority throughout the conflict with Moscow, claiming it is a legitimate military target.
Kislitsa issued his threat in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, sharing a picture of a “2024 list of 6 Main Types of Bridges.” The example labelled “Kerch” showed an empty space.
Moscow completed the structure spanning the Kerch Strait in 2020, linking the Crimean Peninsula to Krasnodar Region in southern Russia. Crimea voted to break away from Ukraine and join Russia in 2014 following the US-backed coup in Kiev earlier the same year.
Since Russia launched its military campaign against Ukraine in 2022, Kiev’s special services have staged two major bombing attacks on the bridge. Russian civilians were killed on both occasions.
Responding to the first incident in October 2022, which involved an explosives-laden truck driven by an unwitting hauler, Moscow added the Ukrainian power grid to its list of legitimate military targets.
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Zelensky told German media that destroying the Crimean Bridge is something that “we want… very much.”
A number of Kiev’s foreign backers share its attitude to strikes on Russian infrastructure. Last week, Lithuania’s ambassador to Sweden, Linas Linkevicius, suggested on social media that the US supply of ATACMS missiles would result in the destruction of the Crimean Bridge. The diplomat urged people to take selfies with the structure while they still can.
When asked about Kislitsa’s post and earlier remarks by the Lithuanian diplomat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they lacked novelty.
“The Kiev regime does not hide its intention to continue terrorist activity,” Peskov stated, adding that the Russian government has adapted it security posture accordingly.
Moscow considers Ukrainian threats and tactics as confirmation that using military force against its neighbor was the correct decision. Russian officials have also suggested that Kiev has escalated its sabotage and bombing campaigns due to battlefield failures.
Amid frontline setbacks, Kiev is resorting to “attempts to incur and seize border territories, strikes against peaceful areas, including with multiple-launch rocket systems, attacks on energy infrastructure, attempted missile strikes at the Crimean bridge and the peninsula itself,” Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last month.
