"Kerch bridge again" Topic

Apparently there has been an explosion again on the Kerch bridge, located to the east of the Crimean peninsula.

Released images show damage to one of the sections of the road bridge, and the traffic on it has been closed by the local authorities. The parallel train bridge is claimed to be operational again.

I like this comment from a Russian on Twitter –
"One thing that annoys me is that after the first time, the competent authorities swore that ordinary people have nothing to fear, that now combat dolphins, medusas, shrimps and plankton guard the bridge 50 hours a day, how did that happen? !!!!!! Did they screw up again? !!!!!!!!"

Polonium mackerel for General Flipper?

On a serious note, traffic is being detoured through the occupied region which will affect supplies to the front line.

The Incredible Mr. Limpet too, no doubt.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.

Keep up the good work, Ukraine!

I do hope they will be putting a Storm Shadow or SCALP into one of the bridge supports every day from now on – and if they are running a bit short, I understand we and France have almost 2000 more missiles with nothing better to do :-)

It certainly seems to be important to Russian Forces in Crimea, etc. for obvious reasons, e.g. supplies, etc. It appears that is a good reason for the Ukraine to blow it up.

A couple of interesting news items about the subject:

1.) Bridge security is the responsibility of FSB.

2.) There are claims that the attack was carried out by some kind of "seaborne drone", though no particular evidence has been shown to back this up.

3.) Again it was road bridge that was hit, rather than the rail bridge (which some analysts suggest might be more important for the military logistics than the road bridge).

4.) Preliminary estimates state that the damage could be partially repaired by mid-September, and fully by some time in November.

By mid-September, the summer tourist season in Crimea will be over. That said, I would not really recommend it as a tourist destination for the time being.

There are claims that the attack was carried out by some kind of "seaborne drone", though no particular evidence has been shown to back this up.

Apparently four sea drones were seen on satellite imagery on the early part of their journey (near Snake Island).

It is quite a long boat ride from the Snake Island region to the Kerch Straits – at least 500 km according to the map that I checked, and drones might want to take a few detours on the way to reduce the chances of detection.

That said, if four sea drones were sent on a mission, what happened to the other three on the way?

Well destroying or damaging bridges has been a standard since WWII. Here seems to me to be no exception. Four sea drones could do it as Griefbringer points out. But maybe they sent 4 hoping all or at least one would make it ? That is a standard military tactic. Sending more than you may need to mitigate losses that may occur on the way to the target/OBJ.

I will be interested in learning more about these drones if and when information is released.
1) Did they transit 500 miles or were they released closer (from land or a vessel)? Quite a lot of fuel would be needed for that distance, it would be good to know the size of these drones.
2) If they were released a distance away, how did they maintain a course to get in the general area of the bridge. Did they use Satellite/GPS for course correction, or were they fed signals in some other way?
3) How did they receive targeting information to hit the bridge? Did they use Electro/Optical or other sensors and match them against known images on board – I suspect not. Or did they have local targeting information (laser designator or drone GPS targeting feeding information?). The radar horizon is going to be less than 20nm for such a small surface drone, so absent any really advanced Satellite targeting, it is going to need local targeting.
My guess is there is going to be some sort of Special Forces doing final targeting, with drones, designation or some other marker.

So much more to learn

The tabloid label, "suicide drones" makes me laugh. Should we now be referring to 'suicide missiles' and 'suicide bombs' Suicide shells and bullets? Suicide mines?
Could the plucky robots have been briefed without telling them wouldn't be returning home after mission.

"Sit down, Jenkinski. Now, as you know, the war is going quite badly. What the country needs now is a futile gesture. So we want you to sail over to Kerch, stooge about a bit. And don't come back."

How it happened will probably classified for some time.

My guess is there is going to be some sort of Special Forces doing final targeting, with drones, designation or some other marker.

That is a pretty good theory and certainly could have been how it occurred.

Only part of the road bridge was damaged. Traffic continues along one of the two lanes. The bridge piers were not damaged.
There is practically no delivery of military cargo over the road bridge – a railway bridge is used for this.
Well, its military significance is not very significant at the moment, since cargoes can go quite reliably by land (through Mariupol, etc.). This would be of great importance if the land corridor were interrupted. So far, tourists who go on vacation to the Crimea have only suffered. Although there are still no vacant rooms in Crimean hotels until the very end of the holiday season. Nobody interrupts their vacation. But these are Russians – the possible danger does not scare them a little)))

The FSB and the sailors who were entrusted with the protection of the bridge showed yet another flagrant incompetence. I would like someone to finally be thrown out of the window for real))) And even better – they were sent to court.

Cuprum:

1. From photos, a section of the 'undamaged' side of the road bridge seems to have been displaced sideways by three or four feet. I'm not sure I'd want to be using it.
link

2. According to a video taken from a car driving through the affected section, they only have one lane open and are just allowing a few cars through at time, at a slow speed, driving on the hard shoulder. You can also see damage to the roadway that has been recently patched and to the crash barrier on the inside edge of the carriageway. Hard to imagine any developed country passing this off as safe for civilian holiday traffic.
link

3. Excellent point on the greater importance of the rail bridge – hopefully that will be next.

From photos, a section of the 'undamaged' side of the road bridge seems to have been displaced sideways by three or four feet. I'm not sure I'd want to be using it.

Interestingly, it seems to have displaced towards the other more damaged section of the bridge, and not away from it (as I would have expected). Then again, I do not have much experience with blowing up bridges.

Meanwhile, there are also traffic issues in other parts of the Crimean peninsula, with a section of highway closed this morning after a fire started in a near by military base.

The tabloid label, "suicide drones" makes me laugh.

I see your point, but there is a need to differentiate between drones that are intended to be single use (like missiles), and ones that are expected to carry out missions (reconnaissance or launching munitions) and return to base.

What about "one-way drone" as a designation?

Why not simply say 'drone missiles' or 'drone torpedo hies'?

According to rumors, after the first explosion, a series of spare bridge sections were made to be replaced in case of damage)))
I am much more concerned about why the Russian command has not yet destroyed the bridges across the Dnieper and the tunnel in the mountains through which goods from Poland go … Everyone in Russia suspects that Putin has some kind of agreement with the West about this. Some suspect him of treason.

"Everyone in Russia suspects that Putin has some kind of agreement with the West about this. Some suspect him of treason."

Here's a phrase you won't hear from me too often: I think you are being unfair to Putin.

Maybe Russia's missiles just aren't very accurate and, whilst they can hit a city block or a large maternity hospital, bridges and tunnels are just a bit too small.

I think that you have formed this erroneous opinion under the influence of Ukrainian propaganda and the suppression of the real results of the actions of Russian missiles in the Western press. Although if you read, for example, reports of such events from Western volunteers, you will see that their locations are subjected to very accurate missile attacks even near the Ukrainian western border. Arms depots, fuel depots and barracks are being destroyed every week throughout Ukraine (just yesterday, port facilities and a huge fuel depot in Odessa were destroyed).
No, the fact is that they don't even try to destroy bridges and tunnels… Just like they don't try to destroy government buildings. It looks like a secret agreement.

"Everyone in Russia suspects that Putin has some kind of agreement with the West about this. Some suspect him of treason."

I can't imagine anyone would actually believe such a thing … I mean to what end ? Putin is a war criminal, the West wants him in jail or better yet executed.

Like Milosevic or Karadzic? Today, 'the west' does not execute war criminals.

Indeed …

If tomorrow the majority of the media will tell a modern person that Zelensky is a war criminal, and Putin was simply forced to start a war, in a year the vast majority of people will think that way)))

Now the manipulation of consciousness is carried out on a scientific basis and with great success. In addition, no one is interested in facts anymore – it is enough to refer to the mythical "closed" information or something like that. After all, no one and no one is being held accountable for lying …

Just remember recent history … There are a lot of examples.

And the reason for the agreements is always the same – the benefit. Someone really needs the bridges and tunnels to remain operational. Otherwise, I do not understand the reasons why they were not destroyed. Perhaps at the beginning of the war there was a calculation for the use of bridges by the Russian army. But now their destruction would simply bring Ukraine to its knees – the country is extremely dependent on regular supplies from the West.
By the way, one bridge was still destroyed. On February 11, a Russian unmanned boat blew up a bridge near the village of Zatoka near Odessa (the same thing that the Ukrainians have now repeated).

YouTube link

Again, Bottom Line – IMO – Putin's Russia invaded the Ukraine for no other real reason than to annex all of it. They already took Crimea in 2014. And got away with it … One can't paint that any other way … i.e. Imperialism …

If tomorrow the majority of the media will tell a modern person that Zelensky is a war criminal, and Putin was simply forced to start a war, in a year the vast majority of people will think that way)))

Nope. You may hope but thats not going to happen.
John 8:32

Now most people around the world know for sure that Putin is war ciminal wanted for crimes against peace, humanity, kidnapping, starving Africa, giving awards to rapists, planning genocide etc. Its extremely well documents with millions of photos and relations.

Cuprum, You cannot measure depth of PR abyss You Russians are.

For next 50 years (unless China will lose WW3) Russians in movies will replace German Nazi/White Suprematist from SouthAfrica as usual bad guys. Be prepared to see till the end of Your life most world movies bad guys as brutal, cruel, fascist, stupid Ruskies, as the world see them now.

Be prepared that wherever You go, every human will look at You Russians like a monsters electing monster as a president and supporting aggressive genocidal war. Our time Nazis.

See, even in Mexico jungle local Native Mayans didnt want to assist me, untill I proved that I am Pole not Russian.

The public opinion of 95% of world hate Russians. Nobody respects fascist Russia. Russian army is a joke. Russian softpower is nonexisting. Deal with that.

Russia is not very popular in many places in the world.

You made me laugh)))
The West has rarely portrayed Russia in a positive way over the centuries. At least since the 16th century. Do you really think that this can bother someone in Russia?
To say that most of the world perceives Russians as monsters is no less ridiculous. Note that this is a source that certainly does not feel sympathy for Russia and, with all attempts to be objective, will support the anti-Russian trend:
link
And after the end of the war and the decrease in the intensity of Western propaganda, most of the created lodge will begin to dissipate and the situation will change for the better for Russia.
Well, that's if we all don't burn in a nuclear fire)))
By the way, do you think that the United States and the West in general are more popular? I wouldn't be so sure about it

Some of us are pro Russian for Napoleonic gaming. They appear quite often in the tabletop. And some of us are pro Russian in our WW2 games – we haven't forgotten our history and the price russia aid against Hitler.

But then, that's where war really belongs. On the table top with toys.

Please don't think all westerners hate Russians. We don't, and we don't want to see the country dismantled. But we would prefer you guys not to have invaded Ukraine.

I do not hate russia or Russians, I fear them I fear their propensity for violence. I fear heir complete lack of humanity and morality. I fear their style of warfare that includes geoncide, torture, rape, plunder, castrations, enslaving people and orture chambers to mention just a few. I fear their greed for more territory and their obscene will to enslave neighboring countries.

I fear the Russian mindset that allows them to believe that the "strong shall rule the weak" and that human life has no value.

There is only one way to keep the away, that is by having a very strong military force. Strong enough to deter them from attacking. Or if they attack to defeat them and protect ones own borders.

Russians cannot be reasoned with. Their lack of moral means no treaty is worth anything as they will break it when it suits them.

Thanks Marc. I don't understand people at all who can hate or otherwise discredit people for their nationality or citizenship (race, religion, etc.). This is what real Nazism is.

I myself am not a supporter of a military solution to the problem and I believe that all available political means were not exhausted to resolve this conflict before the start of the war. But… The war is already on. It cannot be stopped with the snap of a finger. Moreover, the situation is already structured in such a way that the losing party will incur extremely high costs. And each side prefers that the opposing side has to pay. And that means the war will continue.

Soledad, in psychology there is such a thing – a projection. It's just what you describe.

Nope

"
Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. Psychological projection involves projecting undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings."

I have no wish to act like russian soldiers. I do not project my feelings on russians.

All what I have described are well documented behavior of russian troops. They even take pride in it. Filming castrations and executions among other things. You cannot deny it.

Do you really think that this can bother someone in Russia?

No but in many cases they don't play well with others in appears. E.g. why did many former WP nations join NATO after the USSR fell ?

Why did Finland just join NATO ?

If they join NATO do, they get a new toaster ? 🍞🧇

Saying that when was the last time Russian sent food, doctors, etc. to e.g. Africa, etc.? I may have missed it ? So, I'm giving Russia the benefit of the doubt.

Not all Russians are like Putin or support him … Albeit I've heard those that do not support Vlad will be interned, missing, have an accident, etc. … Did I miss anything ?

Don't get me wrong I am No fan of the US Gov't in its current iteration. AFAIK many in the US feel the same?

soledad +2 ⭐

You really missed a lot.

Last year, Russia sent 12 million tons of grain to Africa. Putin also promised to compensate African countries for free 3.3 million tons of grain (that's how much last year was delivered to African countries from Ukraine).

This year, Russia has written off $20 USD billion of debt to African countries. The last time the same write-off was in 2019. Then the debts of Angola, Ethiopia, Libya, Algeria and Mozambique were written off.

The quota for free education of African students in Russian universities in the 2023/24 academic year has more than doubled – from 2.3 thousand to 4.7 thousand places.

How many Russians do you know – opponents of Putin, who went missing, had an accident, etc.?

As I said, when was the last time Russian sent food, doctors, etc. to e.g. Africa, etc.? I may have missed it ? So, I'm giving Russia the benefit of the doubt.

That is why I asked … That is good news.

How many Russians do you know – opponents of Putin, who went missing, had an accident, etc.?

Well I wouldn't know for sure, obviously. But as I see on TV police shows, e.g. Law & Order SUV, etc.

"No Body … No crime."

"You have a dead body as evidence!" "Even if someone is missing."…

Putin the great humanitarian, I am pretty sure he collects on debts that are not even owe to him.

He's a real sweetheart … just ask his friends … if he has any ?