Crimean Bridge Temporarily Closed After New Drone Strikes On Kerch

Ukraine has launched another attack utilizing aerial and seaborne drones on Russia’s Crimean port city of Kerch, the Russian military confirmed Friday. 

The attack temporarily halted traffic on the large Crimea Bridge, which links the Black Sea peninsula to mainland Russia and has come under major attack several times since the Ukraine war’s start.

Crimea has been hit on a semi-regular basis by Ukrainian drones and missiles, which often try to reach the Russian Navy’s Black Sea fleet’s operations in Sevastopol. Russia has reportedly in the last months been forced to transfer some naval assets to the Caspian Sea for greater protection.

According to regional media: 

The attack began around 5:00 a.m. local time and involved both aerial and naval drones, Crimean Wind said. Traffic across the Crimea Bridge was suspended beginning at 5:17 a.m.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that air defenses shot down one Ukrainian drone over Crimea overnight. The agency also reported that Black Sea Fleet naval aviation destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones that were headed towards Crimea.

“The first two sounded like explosions, one sounded like air defense work,” eyewitnesses were reported in the US-funded RFE/RL news outlet as describing.

Kiev has been encouraged to keep fighting, and use its high risk drone attacks (which tend to result in bigger Russian retaliation), given Washington has yet to pressure it into a negotiating stance. 

All sides are cautiously awaiting the Trump administration’s entry into the White House. But Biden is currently seeking to rush all weapons possible to the war-ravaged ally before leaving the Oval Office.

“The United States also plans to train Ukrainian troops outside the country and finalize $20bn in loans backed by frozen Russian assets, according to the briefing shared with the Guardian,” UK media writes.

“The strategy includes a final push of sanctions on Russia before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The move aims to weaken Russia’s war effort and enhance Ukraine’s leverage in future negotiations,” the report adds.