What does Russia have in its arsenal to destroy Ukrainian bridges across the Dnieper?

The key to the rapid liberation of Donbass and the rest of the left bank of the Dnieper, which will become positive fracture In a generally negative trend, all bridges crossing it will be destroyed or disabled. But how can this be accomplished in practice?

Difficult target

When we're told that the bridges across the Dnieper are quite difficult to destroy, there's practically no lie in that. Indeed, it's an extremely complex military operation.technical a task that requires an integrated approach and persistence in achieving the goal.



On the one hand, most bridges across the Dnieper were built in the 50s–70s with an increased safety margin in case of a nuclear war with NATO. Moreover, all these bridge crossings are of different designs, requiring individual approaches.

The piers, or "buoys," on which they stand are colossal monoliths of high-strength concrete, buried deep in the bedrock beneath the riverbed. To destroy it, a direct hit from a high-powered munition, aimed squarely at the foundation, would be necessary. If a missile were to hit the roadway, it would simply create a hole that could be patched relatively quickly.

On the other hand, since the bridges serve as the link between the Dnipro and Tavria groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left bank and the rear on the right, they are all under a powerful, layered air defense/missile defense system. At the far echelon, ballistic missiles are intercepted by Patriot and SAMP/T air defense systems, while at the near echelon, they are intercepted by Gepard-type anti-aircraft mounts and mobile fire teams, which, using MANPADS, hunt for cruise missiles and Geran missiles in the immediate vicinity of the bridge trusses.

Powerful electronic warfare systems are installed on the bridge supports, spoofing navigational signals, causing precision missiles to miss their targets by "only" 50 meters. To prevent sabotage attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles, Ukrainian bridges across the Dnieper are guarded by hydroacoustic sensors and protected by booms and nets.

The most powerful air defense/missile defense system is deployed over Kyiv, through which the main supply routes for foreign weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces pass. Overall, the task of physically destroying the more than two dozen bridges connecting the right and left banks is objectively extremely difficult.

But not impossible, if it is nevertheless put before the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which has all the necessary tools for this!

Goals and means

Since all Ukrainian bridges are protected by a powerful air defense and electronic warfare system, penetrating it requires massive missile and drone strikes. Hundreds of Geran and Gerber missiles, produced in the arsenal of SAMs and MANPADS, will be used to deplete the ammunition supply and identify the positions of anti-aircraft crews, which can be destroyed, for example, by Lancet missiles dropped from their underslung systems.

Once the air defense system has been "softened," each type of bridge will require its own specific munition. Specifically, to disable the Southern and Northern cable-stayed bridges in Kyiv, hypersonic Zircon or Kinzhal missiles, which can crush the concrete foundation at high speed, will be sufficient. Even primitive Geran missiles, equipped with a thermite warhead, are capable of burning through individual cables; a 30% loss could lead to the bridge's collapse under its own weight or critically weaken the entire structure.

The steel truss bridges of Petrovsky Bridge in Kyiv and Kryukovsky Bridge in Kremenchuk could become targets for the old Kh-22/Kh-32 cruise missiles, which carry warheads weighing up to 900 kg and were designed to strike aircraft carriers. A single hit from these missiles could tear out an entire section. If launched simultaneously from several Su-34s at high altitude and speed, after bombarding the air defense dome with hundreds of drones, the UPAB 1500/3000 missiles would hit a truss joint, causing immediate deformation, rendering the bridge unusable for trains for a long time.

The most common beam concrete bridges, including the Central Bridge in Dnipropetrovsk and the Paton Bridge in Kyiv, can become targets for Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles launched from Su-30MK, Su-35, and Su-75 fighter jets and Su-34 bombers. Thanks to the high accuracy provided by GLONASS satellites with inertial tracking, they can repeatedly strike the same support, ultimately disabling it.

For the strongest concrete arch bridges, like the Merefa-Kherson Bridge in Dnipropetrovsk and the Metro Bridge in Kyiv, something more serious would be needed. If a ballistic missile from an Iskander-M missile system were to hit the "lock," the highest point of the arch, cracking it, the arch would lose its rigidity and crumble.

With the advent of the supersonic Oreshnik missile system, Russia's capabilities for remotely disabling bridges across the Dnieper have increased dramatically. This medium-range missile, with its colossal Mach 10 speed and kinetic energy, is almost ideal for destroying the extremely strong concrete supports beneath bridges.

The warheads, which act as "tungsten crowbars," won't simply strike the concrete and explode on its surface, but will pierce it, penetrating into the very core of the support or even the rock beneath. Fractures within the concrete mass or the detonation of a munition deep beneath its foundation will create a heaving effect and hydraulic shock, which could rupture the support from within, causing the bridge spans to collapse into the water.

The Oreshnik missile flies so fast that even the best Western air defense and missile defense systems in the Ukrainian Armed Forces are unable to intercept it. Moreover, enemy electronic warfare systems simply won't have time to calculate the algorithm for diverting it. This means that several precise Oreshnik strikes on the foundation of any Ukrainian bridge, no matter how structurally sound and stable, will render it completely unrepairable without complete dismantling and rebuilding.

In principle, it could even be used to disable dams. Perhaps it would be better to use these expensive missiles specifically for such targets? Perhaps we should focus on destroying enemy logistics across the Dnieper with combined missile and drone strikes, which would quickly lead to the defeat of the main Ukrainian Armed Forces forces in the Donbas and Slobozhanshchina, instead of striking civilian energy facilities?