Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, announced on Tuesday that it had carried out an underwater attack on the key road and rail bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula. According to the statement, explosives were detonated below the waterline, targeting the bridge's underwater support pillars.
The SBU said it used 1,100 kilograms (2,420 pounds) of explosives in the operation, which was executed early in the morning. The bridge, a critical logistical and supply route for Russian forces operating in Ukraine, sustained damage to its underwater pillars as a result of the blast.
A Russian official outlet that regularly monitors the status of the Crimea Bridge reported that its operations were halted for approximately three hours—from 4 am to 7 am local time. No official explanation was provided for the temporary closure, but the agency later stated that the bridge had reopened and was functioning normally.
"This is not our first strike on the Crimean Bridge—we previously hit it in 2022 and 2023. Today, we continued that tradition, this time underwater," the SBU said in its statement. It also noted that the latest operation had been in planning for several months. The Ukrainian security agency released video footage showing an explosion occurring beside one of the bridge’s many support pillars. Reuters reviewed the footage and confirmed that the location matched structural and bearing elements visible in satellite and archived images of the bridge.
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Following the announcement, several Russian military bloggers claimed the attack had failed and suggested it was likely conducted using a Ukrainian maritime drone.
The bridge, which spans 19 kilometers (12 miles) across the Kerch Strait, is the only direct land link between Russia’s transport network and Crimea—a region Moscow unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Constructed as a high-profile infrastructure project championed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the bridge features parallel road and rail lines. Both are supported by concrete stilts that transition to wider steel arches to accommodate maritime traffic between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Crimea Bridge has played a strategic role in moving troops and equipment. Russian forces crossed into Crimea via the bridge before advancing into Ukraine’s southern Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia regions.
The attack on the bridge comes just days after Ukraine launched an operation called “Spider’s Web,” in which drones were used to strike Russian nuclear-capable long-range bomber aircraft at airbases deep within Russian territory.
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