Ukrainian weapon used to damage Crimea bridge remains a mystery
Brady Knox
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Information about the weapon used to damage part of Russia‘s Kerch Bridge, which links Crimea to the mainland, remains shrouded in mystery.
The explosion dealt significant damage to one of the roadways on the bridge, though Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that the bridge partially reopened to limited traffic shortly thereafter, TASS reported. Though the critical rail line remains open, repairs of the roadway are expected to take until November. The force of the explosion needed to cause such damage to the superstructure of the bridge, which came from under it, required a weapon that observers believed was out of Ukraine’s capabilities.
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Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee attributed the explosion to “two Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles,” which was confirmed to Meduza by a source close to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate. However, the nature of these craft remains a mystery. The outlet noted that based on open-source intelligence, the Ukrainian military didn’t appear to have drones with the range or explosive power to damage the bridge’s support pillars.
Notably, satellite images published by Sentinel Hub, taken the day before the bridge explosion, showed five unknown vessels headed east toward the bridge from Ukrainian-controlled Snake Island. At the time of the photos, the vessels were roughly 325 miles away from the location of the explosion.
The United States has shipped surface drones to Ukraine before as part of an aid package, with experts assuming that they were Mantas T-12s. However, such a vessel wouldn’t have anywhere near the range to reach the bridge, with Navy Times reporting that the range of the vessels varies between 26.5 miles and 69 miles.
The other candidate, the crowdfunded kamikaze drone fleet that Ukraine touted last year, is also unlikely to have carried out the attack. The vessels, according to United24, have a maximum range of nearly 500 miles and a maximum payload of over 440 pounds, but these figures are difficult to verify. Meduza concluded that the craft would burn through its fuel long before it was able to reach the bridge.
Pro-Russian Telegram channels have suggested that the vessel could have been the British-made underwater autonomous vehicle REMUS 600 with additional explosives attached. The channel Mash concluded that the craft, which resembles a torpedo, was launched from a civilian vessel close to the bridge.
The REMUS 600 was designed for noncombat roles such as underwater mapping and mine detection, according to the Oceanographic Systems Lab, and to the public’s knowledge has never been deployed in a combat role. As such, it is unlikely that the vessel could carry an explosive payload large enough to cause significant damage to the Kerch Bridge’s superstructure. The craft weighs roughly 530 pounds by itself.
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The bombing shows that Ukraine’s naval drone capabilities are likely greater than publicly revealed, a worrying prospect for the Kremlin.
Russia was quick to enact vengeance for the attack, launching one of the largest missile bombardments of the war against the infrastructure of the port city of Odesa in response.