Ukrainian Intelligence Service Admits Sabotage Operations On Crimea Bridge Last Year

JAKARTA - Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency for the first time claimed responsibility for a sabotage operation that damaged the Russian-made Kerch Bridge linking Russia's occupied Crimea in October.

Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), said his agency was behind the attack, speaking in a comment posted on television as he submitted a warning stamp marking wartime special forces operations.

"There are many different operations, special operations. We will be able to talk about some of them openly and loudly after this victory, we will not talk about anything else," Malyuk said.

"This is one of our actions, namely the destruction of the Crimea bridge on October 8 last year," he said.

The bridge was badly damaged in October in a devastating explosion, with Russian officials saying the explosion was caused by a truck that exploded while crossing the bridge, killing three people.

The bridge was again attacked this month, but Malyuk did not specify who was behind the attack.

The 19 km (12 miles)-long Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait is the only direct link between Russia's transport network and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine and occupied in 2014.

The bridge is a flagship project of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened it for highway traffic with great fanfare, where he rode a truck in 2018.

This route served as an important supply route for Russian troops after Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, sending troops from Crimea to seize parts of Kherson and Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine.