Russia vows 'harsh' retaliation if Crimea bridge attacked

In a statement issued on May 3, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said preparations for an attack on the Crimean Bridge were hard to believe, but were being carried out openly with a show of force and with the direct and unwavering support of the West.

According to Ms. Zakharova, in recent days, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have used a number of ATACMS long-range army tactical missiles that were secretly transferred by the US a month ago to attack Crimea, but according to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, all of these missiles have been destroyed.

Ms. Zakharova added that after Easter, Ukraine is expected to receive the first F-16 fighter jets, which, according to the British, could also be used in the operation to destroy the Crimean bridge.

“I want to warn Washington and Brussels that any aggressive actions against Crimea will not only fail but will also be met with a devastating retaliatory strike,” Ms. Zakharova stressed.

Earlier, Ukraine's Special Envoy to the United Nations, Sergey Kislitsa, made threats against the Crimean Bridge, implying that the structure would cease to exist by the end of this year.

According to RT (Russia), Mr. Kislitsa made the above threat in a post on social network X on May 1. The Ukrainian diplomat shared an image of a “list of 6 main types of bridges in 2024”, in which the part labeled “Kerch” showed a blank space.

Senior officials in Kiev have also declared that destroying the bridge is a top priority in the conflict with Moscow, arguing that it is a legitimate military target for the country.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told German media that destroying the Crimean bridge was something “we would very much like.”

Some of Kiev’s pro-Kiev countries have also taken a similar stance on attacks on Russian infrastructure. Last week, Lithuania’s ambassador to Sweden, Linas Linkevicius, suggested on social media that the US’s delivery of ATACMS long-range ground tactical missiles would lead to the destruction of the Crimean Bridge. The diplomat urged people to take selfies with the structure while they still could.

Since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in 2022, Kiev special forces have staged two major attacks on the Crimean bridge. Russia said both attacks resulted in civilian deaths.

In response to the first attack in October 2022, Russia included Ukraine’s power grid in its list of legitimate military targets. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the fact that Ukrainian officials openly spoke about plans to attack Russian infrastructure once again proves that Russia’s decision to launch a military operation in Ukraine was correct.

Russian officials also believe that due to defeat on the battlefield, Kiev has escalated sabotage and bombing campaigns.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that amid defeats on the front lines, Kiev was making “attempts to seize border territories, attacks on peaceful areas, including multiple launch rocket systems, attacks on energy infrastructure, attempts to launch missile strikes on the Crimean bridge and the peninsula itself.”

Moscow completed the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait in 2020, connecting the Crimean peninsula with the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. Crimea voted to join Russia in 2014 following a coup in Kiev earlier that year.