Breaking news: Ukrainian State Security Service causes critical explosion at Crimean Bridge

According to their own media announcements, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) early this morning carried out a new, unique special operation and struck the Crimean Bridge for the third time — this time from underwater. The bridge is now effectively in an emergency state.

We are told that the operation took several months to execute. SBU agents planted explosives on the supports of the structure which connects occupied Crimea with the Russian mainland. The SBU informs us the first explosive device was detonated at 4:44 a.m this morning without any civilian casualties. The SBU have released a video of the event, which we recreate here:

The underwater supports of the pillars were severely damaged at the seabed level — 1,100 kg of explosives in TNT equivalent contributed to this, and the bridge is now in a critical condition because it could collapse at any time with traffic passing over it. It appears that the bridge was closed for several hours and it is not known whether it is operating at full capacity now; the amount of public information available is limited.

The Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Strait Bridge, is a 19-kilometre structure linking mainland Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Commissioned by the Kremlin following Russia’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea, the bridge became a potent symbol of Moscow’s claim over the territory. Construction began in 2016 and was completed in phases, with the road section opening in May 2018 and the parallel railway in December 2019. Designed to solidify Russia’s logistical and political grip on Crimea, the bridge not only facilitated civilian transit but became a crucial military artery — enabling the movement of troops, fuel, and supplies between Russia and southern Ukraine. For Kyiv, the bridge has represented an emblem of occupation — and thus a legitimate military target.

The Ukrainian Security Services (SBU), often working in concert with the Navy or military intelligence, have struck the bridge twice before with significant impact. The first attack occurred on 8 October 2022, when a truck bomb detonated on the road span, killing several civilians and collapsing two sections of the structure. Russia responded with retaliatory missile strikes across Ukraine. The second successful operation took place in the early hours of 17 July 2023, when Ukrainian maritime drones—explosive-laden uncrewed surface vessels—struck the bridge’s support pylons, damaging the roadway and disrupting traffic for weeks. Both attacks had strategic and symbolic consequences: they temporarily severed a key logistics corridor to Crimea and exposed Russia’s vulnerability in a region she claimed was fully under her control. As of mid-2025, the bridge remains in use but under constant threat, emblematic of both Ukraine’s striking reach and Russia’s uneasy grip on annexed territory.