Ukraine targets Kerch Bridge, Crimea. Spy planes sent from Romania are preparing the operation

Ukraine targets Kerch Bridge, Crimea. Spy planes sent from Romania are preparing the operation.

The Ukrainian spy agency behind the drone strikes on refineries in Russia – the latest in the industrial region of Tatarstan, more than 1,200 kilometers away – has another target in the pipeline: the 19-kilometre-long Kerch bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea.

Ukraine targets Kerch Bridge, Crimea

Senior officials of Ukraine’s military intelligence service HUR have revealed they are planning a third attempt to destroy the bridge after two previous attempts to blow it up, claiming its destruction is “inevitable”, according to The Guardian.

Its destruction would strengthen Ukraine’s campaign to liberate Crimea and boost the morale of the troops, who, at the front, despite a staunch resistance, are gradually being repulsed by waves of attacks by Russia, which does not care about the huge loss of human life.

According to Russian sources, it is Britain that has pushed for the destruction of this bridge, which would mark a major victory over what can be achieved on the ground.

There are doubts about the HUR’s ability to carry out a special operation against such a well-defended and obvious target.

Russia has taken extensive measures to protect the bridge, strengthening air defenses and deploying decoys for guided missiles.

But HUR thinks he can destroy the bridge soon.

“We will do it in the first half of 2024,” an official told The Guardian, adding that Kirilo Budanov, the head of the main intelligence directorate, already has “most of the means to achieve this goal.”

He was following a plan approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii to limit Russia’s naval presence in the Black Sea as much as possible.

If the bridge were permanently compromised, Moscow would have to transport military supplies by road through occupied southern Ukraine.

The route will pass through Kherson and Zaporozhye provinces, which Russia partially captured in spring 2022.

Ukrainian officials believe this would significantly impair the Kremlin’s ability to carry out offensives at a time when its ground forces are on the move.

Zelenski warned that Russia is building a 300,000-strong army with which it will launch a potentially decisive offensive in the summer.

Spy planes sent from Romania are preparing the operation

Officials have indicated that Western weapons would allow Ukraine to destroy the bridge more quickly, and Zelenskii has repeatedly asked Berlin for its long-range Taurus missile system.

There are signs that it might get it, if not Taurus, then other systems with high destructive power.

Russian military experts point out that currently the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which enjoy full technological support from the West, have grown considerably, so it would be a mistake to underestimate such an operation.

A determining factor that shows the preparation for new major attacks on Russia is the high intensity of the activity of NATO spy aircraft not only in the Black Sea area, but also in other areas on the border with the Russian Federation.

Russian military bloggers have repeatedly accused NATO of flying spy planes near Crimea and Russia’s Black Sea coast to collect targeting data that is passed on to Ukraine in real time.

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American MQ-9 Reaper drones have become “common” in the skies of the Black Sea, from where they monitor Crimea and the coasts of Russia, their main mission being reconnaissance/surveillance.

At Câmpia Turzii there is a fleet of such American drones. Last year, one of these was attacked by two Russian planes over the Black Sea.

The two planes harassed the drone for several tens of minutes. Finally, the pilot of one of the Russian planes threw jet fuel on the drone, which crashed into the sea.

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On March 5, the Kremlin claimed that a pair of French Air Force Rafale-S fighter jets escorting an E-3F long-range radar surveillance plane operated over the Black Sea too close to territory claimed by Russia.

Russian air traffic controllers threatened the French pilots to change course or they would be fired upon.

Read also: Spy planes sent from Romania are preparing the final battle between Russia and Ukraine for Crimea

NATO forces’ response to such challenges is to arm reconnaissance drones, which can be very lethal.

Recently, the Dutch Ministry of Defense announced that MQ-9As will be modified to carry laser-guided GBU bombs and Hellfire air-to-surface missiles to support NATO and maritime surveillance missions across Europe.