Ukrainian General Threatens To Destroy Bridge Linking Russia To Crimea

A top Ukrainian general this
week threatened to destroy a huge bridge that links Russia to the occupied Crimean
Peninsula using long-range Western weapons.

Major General Dmytro Marchenko
said on Wednesday night that Kyiv considered the 745-foot Kerch
bridge a legitimate military target in his country’s on-going war against
Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.

Speaking to the the Krym.Realii website,
the general – who has been leading Ukraine’s defence of the Mykolaiv region in
the south – described the £2.7billion bridge as an ‘umbilical cord’
supplying Russian reinforcements to the south.

When asked what Ukraine’s
military planned to do with new advanced weapons that Kyiv is urging the
West to deliver, he told the publication the bridge would ‘be our number one
target’.

‘We have to tear this
umbilical cord to cut off (Russian) reinforcements. As soon as it’s done,
(Moscow) will panic,’ he said.

Ukraine has urged its allies
to rush more and better weapons to the country, saying it cannot hold off
Russia’s more powerful forces without more support. Western weapons have
been critical to the embattled nation’s surprising success so far.

However, Western countries
have been reluctant to send long-range weapons that could be used to attack
deeper inside Russian territory, fearing this could drag more countries into an
even bigger contract.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014
from Ukraine. Construction on the bridge was completed in 2018, and Russia has
been using the bridge that crosses the Strait of Kerch to deliver troops and military
equipment to the Black Sea region.