Russia has stopped using the Crimean Bridge to transport military equipment to the front lines and is instead using overland routes in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine, The Independent and investigative group Molfar reported on May 6.
The bridge, also called the Kerch Bridge, connects the Russian mainland with the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, and has long been a crucial supply route for the Russian military in Ukraine.
Construction on the 19-kilometer-long bridge began after the illegal 2014 annexation and occupation of Crimea, and was completed in 2018.
It was heavily damaged in Ukrainian strikes in October 2022 and July 2023.
An analysis of satellite imagery by Molfar, shared with The Independent, shows that over a three-month period this year, only one military freight train carrying around 55 fuel cars crossed the bridge.
On March 25, Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said Russia no longer uses the Crimean Bridge to supply weapons to the front after Ukrainian strikes damaged the crossing.
Before the bridge came under attack, "42 to 46 trains carrying weapons and ammunition passed there per day," Maliuk said at the time.
"Today there are four or five in a day," of which four are for passenger traffic, and one is for consumer goods, he added.
In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on occupied Crimea, targeting Russian military assets in and around the Black Sea.
A Russian proxy claimed on April 30 that air defenses had intercepted Ukrainian missiles over the cities of Dzhankoi and Simferopol overnight.
Most recently, Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian drone over occupied Crimea on May 2, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
