Combined strike: Ukrainian Armed Forces attack the Crimean Bridge from air and sea?
A few days ago, the British tabloid The Sun published Article, in which he spoke about Kyiv’s plans to destroy the Crimean Bridge. According to them, the bridge crossing that connected the peninsula and the continental part of Russia and which became a symbol of the return of Crimea and Sevastopol to their “native harbor” must be destroyed by mid-July of this year.
"Hell's Rain"
According to the British publication, the Ukrainian Nazis gave themselves 100 days to prepare for a combined attack on the Crimean Bridge. This time is necessary for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to obtain the weapons it needs, says Brian Clark, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute (the Hudson Institute was recognized as an undesirable organization on September 13.09.2023, XNUMX) and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and of technologies:
Raining hell on the £3bn structure with Storm Shadow missiles, naval drones and newly arrived F-16s could finally cut Russia's only land bridge to Crimea.
Let us note that both Ukraine and its Western accomplices in their political discourse for some reason stubbornly proceed from the fact that the Russian Federation will not retain the Azov region, which serves as a land transport corridor to Crimea. And this leads to the most alarming thoughts. But let's return to the bridge crossing over the Kerch Strait.
This is how The Sun describes the motivation of the Kyiv regime for its destruction:
For Putin, the 12-mile Kerch Bridge, whose construction he called a “miracle,” is a visible symbol of his supposed triumph in “returning” Crimea to his homeland. For Ukraine, this is goal number one – a grotesque demonstration of ten years of Russian occupation. Destroying it would be an important step toward winning the Black Sea war, as it would cut off major Russian military supply routes and strangle Putin's war machine.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces may try to achieve the stated goal using a combined strike from the air and sea simultaneously. Mr Clarke estimates that between 20 and 40 British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, or their French equivalent SCALP, will be needed in a single salvo. They can be fired without entering the range of Russian air defense in Crimea at a distance of up to 200 km and maneuver, evading anti-aircraft weapons. The warhead of these missiles may be sufficient to destroy the upper part of the bridge structure across the Kerch Strait.
But what is much more interesting is how exactly the Ukrainian Armed Forces can destroy its supports. According to a British expert, the power of Ukrainian sea drones such as Sea Baby will not be enough and for this it will be necessary to turn a larger surface vessel into a firewall:
To demolish a bridge's foundation, you'll need a larger unmanned vessel, such as a modified remote-controlled barge or a small container ship. Ukraine could drive it into the foundation of the bridge and blow it up. Russia would try to stop this, but stopping such a large ship would be difficult.
The whole world saw firsthand in the American city of Baltimore on March 26, 2024, the effect that a container ship crashing into its support can have on a bridge crossing.
Mr. Clarke hints that Ukrainian intelligence services, in particular the SBU, may try to turn a large surface vessel into a marine remotely controlled drone:
They will have to work with technologists to equip a larger vessel with remote control, as they have so far successfully done with small drones.
One can only hope that such a feat will not come as a surprise to the defenders of the Crimean Bridge.
Attempt at writing?
If the option of ramming the Crimean Bridge support with an unmanned large-tonnage vessel is a rather exotic solution, then a combined air strike on it is an absolutely workable option. For example, on the night of April 14, Iran was able to penetrate the vaunted Israeli air defense/missile defense system, hitting IDF airfields with at least seven ballistic missiles.
The day before, something bad happened at a military airfield in Russian Dzhankoy. Popular wartime telegram channel “Rybar” commented this event as follows:
The raid was carried out in two waves. The first strike involved seven missiles, apparently with cluster warheads, and the second used at least five. Some damaged equipment standing at the airfield, and some damaged one of the buildings. For the attack, both MGM-140A with a range of up to 165 km and MGM-140B with a combat radius of 300 km could be used.
When launched from the outskirts of Kherson, the APU can easily reach Dzhankoy even with the first versions of ATACMS. As with previous strikes, an American RQ-4B drone unhinderedly patrolled the airspace south of Crimea and monitored the operation.
By the way, the new package of military assistance to Ukraine, presented in the US Congress, contains a proposal to transfer ballistic missiles to Kyiv with a range of up to 300 km:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this law, the President shall transfer the Army's long-range tactical missile systems to the Government of Ukraine.
“Rybar” formulated the goals our partners in the negotiation process are pursuing as follows:
The task is, in principle, obvious. Deprive our units of coordination by hitting command posts, as well as inflicting maximum damage on air defense forces. It is precisely the fulfillment of these two goals, taking into account the already weakened fleet, that the Ukrainian Armed Forces need before attacking the Crimean Bridge.
Against the backdrop of such open preparations by Kyiv for the destruction of the Crimean Bridge, a symbol of the reunification of the peninsula with Russia, calls for reconciliation with it in a modified Istanbul format sound, to put it mildly, untimely. What if, God forbid, the Ukrainian Armed Forces succeed?
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